


Something There

by BelleBasBleue



Series: Something There [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Behind the Scenes, F/M, Fluff, One-Shots, Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-11 02:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 26,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13514667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BelleBasBleue/pseuds/BelleBasBleue
Summary: There has always been feelings behind the masks. But how far do these feelings go, and when did they appear? A collection of drabbles on what happens behind the scenes of each episode. Rated K for now, might change later because of language.





	1. Chapter 1

            Ladybug and Chat Noir spun around to find the source of the annoying giggles. Stormy Weather pointed her parasol up at the stage lights above Chat Noir and Ladybug with a purple lightning strike. The pair of lights crashed to the ground sending both superheroes running in opposite directions.

            Just as Hawkmoth and Stormy Weather had planned, all of the lights at the TV station went out. Stormy Weather stood still as she received new orders from her master, then she ran out of the broadcasting room.

            Chat Noir opened his eyes to a green-lit world and saw the akumatized victim run into the hallways of the station. “Frosty the Snowgirl is getting away!” Chat Noir turned and saw his lady tripping over stuff on the floor trying to find her way through the dark- in the wrong direction. With a chuckle Chat held out his hand to his partner, “Do I hear a damsel in distress?”

            “Some of us don’t have night vision. Ahh!” Before Ladybug could prepare herself, Chat was dragging her somewhere. _I really hope Chat knows what he’s doing_ , Ladybug thought to herself.

            “No need to _bug_ out” Chat Noir called, “Just trust me!” Ladybug nodded, not sure if she could make a sound at the moment.

            Chat Noir took a tight turn into another open space. For Ladybug, Chat Noir could have just tried to pull her through a wall. Ladybug slammed into the wall and let go of his hand as she fell to the floor. _Stupid Cat_ , Ladybug thought as she rubbed the sore spot on her head.

            “Oops, sorry Milady. Thought I had made a wider turn around that corner.” Chat  helped Ladybug stand, then he was off to the races again. The pair had barely ran two meters when Chat took a sharp turn yet again and slammed Ladybug into the wall.

            “That’s it. You no longer get the privilege to lead.”

            “But I’m the only one here who has actual vision here. If you were leading we _both_ would be hitting the walls.”

            Ladybug crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue at Chat and used her hands to mime him talking.

            “You know I can see you, Milady,” Chat chuckled. He smirked as Ladybug’s hands flew behind her back.

            “Just shut up and go. We’re losing precious time.” Ladybug held out her hand for Chat to take, but she still held her mouth in a slight pout.

            “You’re right.” As a second thought, Chat added “and don’t worry, there is only one more corner to go, and just one more wall to slam into. But by then we will be all caught up with our little Elsa.”

            A few moments later Chat Noir burst through the door that led to the staircases. He glanced back to see Ladybug still hanging in there as they both hustled up the stairs.

            “Ok, that’s enough,” Ladybug yelled. “I think I can manage to…” Stormy Weather, who was in front of them, hurled a fire extinguisher at Ladybug.

            “Duck!!!!!” Chat yelled. He stopped breathing as he felt Ladybug’s hand slip out of his. By the time he had turned around, Ladybug was in a crouched position, covering her head with her hands.

            “…follow your lead on this one,” Ladybug said, finishing her sentence. She slipped her hand safely back inside Chat Noir’s so they could continue their chase. Inside both of their minds they thought about how safe and comfortable they felt having their hands linked together. Chat especially marveled at how perfect Ladybug’s hand felt in his. _It’s a perfect match._

            Light suddenly filled Ladybug’s vision as the team made it up onto the roof top. Stormy Weather floated above them letting out gales of laughter. “YOU air heads! You fell right into my trap!” Pointing her parasol at the sky in a circular motion, tornado like clouds and wind formed around the top of the television station.

            Ladybug and Chat Noir assessed their situation. Meanwhile Stormy Weather stood still, listening to the voice of Hawkmoth. A cruel grin spread across her lips. “There is no way out. Party’s over fools!” The icy weather queen smiled wider as she gained height.

            Ladybug spread her legs into a fighting stance and held up both of her fists. “We’re just….” Ladybug stopped mid-sentence as she stared at her and Chat’s still intertwined fingers. Ladybug glared at her kitty, and he immediately let go. He rubbed the back of his neck as a pink tinge quickly covered the visible skin on his face.

            Ladybug focused once again on the villain, confidently holding up both of her fists. Chat Noir joined her, smiling an evil smile. “We’re just getting started.”


	2. Chapter 2

            For once Adrien was not late. Recently there had been tons of akuma attacks before school, making it hard for him to get to school on time. _Maybe Hawkmoth somehow knows it’s my birthday so he decided to let up on the attacks?_ Adrien wondered. _Nah, that would be just too weird. But maybe just this once I can have good luck._

“Sorry, but you’re not going to have any good luck when you’re around me, kid,” Plagg said quite loudly, reading Adrien’s mind. Adrien pushed Plagg back down into his bag.

            “Stay quite Plagg. If you haven’t noticed we’re in PUBLIC” Adrien silently yelled to his kawami.

            “Fine, I’ll be quite, but just because it’s your birthday” Plagg (finally) whispered.

            “Thank you” Adrien whispered back as he vaulted up the stairs to his classroom.          

            At the moment, there was no one in the classroom. Practically no one ever arrived thirty minutes early, but Adrien wanted to get away from his gloomy house as soon as possible today. He pulled out his phone and connected to the school’s Wi-Fi. He pulled up the web app, and the Ladyblog immediately popped up. There were no new posts since last night, but Adrien still scrolled to the latest article and read it for about the eighth time. “Maybe I can see my lady today,” he murmured, finishing the article.

            “What did you say Bro?”

            Adrien looked up and an instant smile spread across his face. “Hey Nino. How are you?”

            Nino threw his school bag onto the table and slid onto the bench beside Adrien. “Pretty fine. How about you, Birthday Boy?” Nino slapped Adrien on the back in a brotherly way and slid him a small wrapped present.

            “Oh, Nino you didn’t have to do that!” Adrien eagerly unwrapped the present and in his hands lay some Ladybug themed earphones. “They’re awesome!” It was his first present that a friend had ever given him, and they were amazing.

            “Yeah, I saw these in a store and I just knew you would like them. You can never stop talking about Ladybug, so I thought these would be perfect.” Nino smiled as Adrien’s face lit up like a kid’s on Christmas morning

            “Thank you.” The two good friends fist bumped.

            “Hey, did you understand our physics homework last night? I completely didn’t understand it…” Nino pulled out his crumpled homework and started to ramble. Adrien tried to listen, but his eye caught a flicker by the door. Looking up he saw Marinette fall into the classroom with Alya close behind. Judging by both of their faces, Alya had been the one to playfully push Marinette inside.

            Adrien’s eyes focused on Marinette. Her face was in a scowl as she stuck her tongue out at Alya. _She’s kind of cute when she’s angry,_ Adrien thought. Marinette turned, saw Adrien, and a sudden redness was splashed onto her face. She smiled weakly to Adrien and waved a little. Realizing he was staring, Adrien mentally sook himself and returned the smile and the wave.

            When Adrien returned to helping Nino, he couldn’t help but notice that Marinette was holding something behind her back. She looked like she hesitated by his seat when she made her way to hers, but it was kind of normal by now, so he dismissed it.

000

            The morning continued, and Adrien noticed that Marinette was acting even more odd than normal around him. He even asked her if anything was wrong when they were working on their history project, but she just said that it was nothing, or what he judged was nothing. Adrien had found out early in their friendship that her words would always come out a jumbled mess, so it was his job to unscramble them. He thought that he was getting pretty good at it.

            As school let out for lunch, Adrien again noticed her behavior, but his thoughts were soon answered.

            He and Nino were waiting on the front steps of the school for his ride home when Marinette suddenly leaped out of nowhere.

            “Um, hey!” Marinette squeaked and did the same wave that she had done earlier in the day. Adrien paused for a second, then copied her movements. “Hey.” She stood there shifting from foot to foot then said “I uh….hehehe, I want to , um gift you a make! I mean, gift you a gift I made. I mean-“ Chloe pushed Marinette down onto the ground and took her place.

            “Adrikins!” Adrien inconspicuously took a deep breath and calmed his anger. As Chloe talked, he just nodded his head; his mind was somewhere else.

            _It’s obvious that Marinette wanted to give me something for my birthday. Why did Chloe have to push her out of the way? She may be a childhood ‘friend’ but I can’t let her do that._  Adrien carefully pushed himself away from Chloe and waved to Nino. He got into his limo and thought to himself. _I’ll have to make it up to Marinette someday, but right now I think I need to worry about Nino. I really he won’t do something stupid to get my father to listen._

000

As Adrien went to bed for the evening, he grabbed the scarf that he had gotten for his birthday and dove his nose into the soft, knit fabric. It was amazing that his father had given him this wonderful present. Although, in reality, Adrien knew that it was Nathalie who had arranged to get the present. His father had no doubt just told his assistant to get his son a present and give it to him, but Adrien still appreciated the thought.

One thing that Adrien loved about this year’s present was that this present was so unlike the presents he had gotten in years passed. For the past few years he had gotten pen after pen, so it was amazing to get something different. Adrien fiddled with the tassels and his eye noticed a silvery thread on the inside of the scarf. He delicately turned the scarf over and stared closely at the silvery thread. A name was written in the silver thread, and it definitely was not his father’s signature.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers! Here is the next chapter! I found it was really hard to find a story idea for this episode because there's not really any fluff to read into. For the first few episodes the writers toned down the shipping a lot, but I eventually found something. Thank you for reading my story. Until I write again, TTFN!


	3. The Pharaoh

            “Tikki, what were the Egyptian Ladybug and Chat Noir like?” Marinette asked as she lay awake in her pink loft bed.

            Tikki flew up next to Marinette with a cookie in hand. “Why do you ask?”

            Marinette sat up a little bit and tugged her knees to her chest. “I don’t know. You already told me about how important they are, so, I don’t know, how about you tell me about their normal life. They weren’t always Ladybug and Chat Noir right? That would be pretty crazy.”

            Tikki giggled. “Yeah, that would be pretty crazy. The Ladybug back then was Akhenaten’s fourth daughter, Neferneferuaten Tasherit. She was a great Ladybug for the time period, though truthfully she was ahead of her time. She could tell the best jokes and keep anyone happy. And she loved her family so much. “

            “Her Chat Noir was a boy from the village named Yuya. He was the more serious of the two, but he knew how to party. They were the perfect pair.” Tikki got a wistful look in her eyes.

            “Why did they need to become Ladybug and Chat Noir? Did they need to de-evilize akumas as well?” Marinette asked.

            “No, they did not have to fight Hawkmoth or the akumas, but they had to fight someone similar. The Pharaoh Akhenaten possessed an ancient miraculous that turned him into the god Anubis. His powers allowed him to sort of possess his victims by talking to them in their dreams and nightmares; he was preparing them for death. His victims were then eventually turned to mummies, not unlike the ones you saw today.” Tikki explained.

            “Is that Miraculous still here today?” Marinette wondered.

            “No,…it was destroyed when Neferneferuaten and Yuya defeated Akhenaten. It was a very powerful miraculous, so we’re lucky it was destroyed. Although sometimes I miss the kawami. The kawami wasn’t always evil, and we used to be friends….all of us. But that kawami got drunk with power. It was such a sad day when we had to let him go.” Tikki got quite, but snuggled against Marinette’s cheek for comfort.

            “I’m so sorry; that must have been terrible.” Tikki just nodded her head. “But tell me more about, what was it?.... Neferneferika and Yuyo?”

            “It’s Neferneferuaten and Yuya, but Plagg and I called them Nefern and Yu.”

            “Plagg?” Marinette questioned, tilting her head to the side.

            “Plagg is chat Noir’s kawami. He’s super annoying and obsessed with cheese, but we’re still really good friends. Anyway,” Tikki said, getting back on topic, “Nefern and Yu were hilarious when they didn’t know each other’s identities. While they were transformed they both flirted intensely with each other. They got so close they were able to tell by just a single movement how their partner was doing. In their civilian forms they were enemies,…sort of. Yuya often visited the Palace of the Pharaoh to deliver various foods from the village and bread.”

            “Wait, was he a baker?”

            “Yep! Quite ironic isn’t it. They had always sort of known each other from when they were kids, and they hated each other. Although that hate blossomed into love.”

            “You sound like Rose, Tikki.”

            “I know, but it is true. Once Yuya and Neferneferuaten revealed their identities they unsurprisingly didn’t hate each other. Then after The Pharaoh was defeated they ran off together and made a beautiful life with each other.”

            “That sounds so nice Tikki.” Marinette petted Tikki’s head tiredly and yawned a little bit as she pushed herself under the covers of her bed.

            “Looks like it’s bedtime for you, Marinette. Remember, you have that history test tomorrow,” Tikki squeaked.

            Marinette reached over and unplugged the string of lights behind her. “It’s a good thing the test is on ancient Egypt!” They both giggled and closed their eyes, awaiting sleep.

            Marinette was just about to fall asleep when a question occurred to her. “Tikki,….how many Ladybugs and Chat Noirs have ended up together?”

            Tikki’s sleepy reply was: “Almost every one, but each pair did end up loving each other in their own ways.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Readers! I hope you liked this chapter. I noticed in the English version of the episode (I don't know if it's different in any other languages) that the pharaoh Tutankhamen wanted to bring his beloved Nefertiti back to life. When I was researching for this chapter, i found that Nefertiti was actually married to Tutankhamen's father, Akhenaten. So for historical accuracy I decided to change that one little detail. The Ladybug mentioned in this story is actually a daughter of Akhenaten, and since there is not much known about her, I decided to choose her for the Ladybug in my story. Anyway, there's a little history for ya. Thank you for reading my story. Until I write again, TTFN!


	4. Lady Wi-Fi

            Ladybug shoved the TV dinner inside the microwave and pushed random buttons in a hurry to get her partner out. She jumped behind a table and crouched so she was out of the way. “Come on micro-thingy. Jam the signal!” She whispered urgently. It wasn’t a moment longer when a blast of fire came from over her head. She thrust the microwave out of the way and tugged open the door.

            Inside was her shivering kitty. Still trembling, he collapsed on top of her and they both fell to the ground. Ladybug sat up and pulled Chat Noir a little closer to her so she could warm him up. “You ok, Chat?” She gently held his head in one of her hands. She was very tempted to push away the fringe around his eyes, but she still was very acutely aware of Lady Wi-Fi’s camera behind her.

            Chat Noir stirred and opened his eyes tiredly. Under her fingers she was able to tell that her companion was getting warmth back into his body. Three loud beeps rang from her earrings and Chat Noir’s eyes widened.

            “You used your Lucky Charm! There’s not much time left!” Chat whispered urgently. He quickly got up and pulled his lady up with him. He growled as he stared at the locked door. “Grr, we can’t get through the door.”

            “You’re right. The microwave is broken, so we can’t use that trick again.” Ladybug glanced back at the melted microwave. “WAIT!” Chat Noir was contemplating using his cataclysm but stopped as she called out. “I have an idea.” Ladybug beckoned to him and she whispered quietly into his ear. She unconsciously got even closer to him as she explained her plan. Her hand hesitantly touched his shoulder and she could feel his taught muscles jump excitedly as they got ready to carry out the plan. For one moment, Ladybug thought about stopping this crazy villain nonsense and just hug her kitty forever so she could know if he truly was alright, but she dismissed the thought immediately. This is her job to save Paris, nobody else’s. It was just Ladybug and Chat Noir saving the world.

            Ladybug reluctantly let go of his shoulder and watched with a smirk on her face as she watched Chat climb up on the counter and slide a pan over the camera.

000

            Time was running out. Ladybug was about to transform back into Marinette and she needed a safe place to de-transform. The only problem being that Chat was right behind her.

            Ladybug spied a supply closet on the main floor of the hotel and ducked quickly inside, hoping to beat Chat, but he caught the door.

            “Ladybug, please. I won’t tell. Cat’s honor,” Chat pleaded. Ladybug just shook her head.

            “I can’t tell you Chat, at least not yet. No one must know, not even us.” Ladybug turned away from Chat and flicked on the lights to the closet.

            From the corner of her eye she watched Chat look dejectedly down at his shoes. Her miraculous beeped the second to last beep and Ladybug hurriedly closed the door, but left it slightly open. The final beep arrived and a warm glow spread off of her body. Her clothes and her hair lifted up a little from the end of the charm. Both of Marinette’s hands reached up and caught Tikki when she fell out of the earrings. One thing that Marinette did not do was turn around.

            Marinette had left the door ajar intentionally. She could almost feel Chat’s mind thinking fast from the other side of the door. The silence that had encompassed Marinette shattered as the door clicked shut. Marinette listened for a few more minutes, listening to Chat talk to himself, then to his own kawami as he walked away. Marinette sighed with relief.

            “Oh, Tikki! It worked! My little test worked!” Marinette cuddled Tikki to her cheek, smiling ear to ear.

            “Yeah, but you already knew you could trust Chat,” Tikki squeaked.

“I knew I could trust him in battle. I didn’t know if he would respect my privacy, but it turns out he does!” Marinette cried happily. Marinette opened her satchel, inviting Tikki inside. Marinette checked to see if the coast was clear, then made her way home.

            “One thing I can’t believe is that Chat released his transformation only a few feet away from me.” Marinette said to herself, running up the last of her steps to her room. “It’s just so weird.” Marinette quickly changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. “We could have revealed our identities tonight,” Marinette whispered in awe. She shook herself. “No, that can’t happen. Even if I desperately want to know who he is, I can’t know. There is only one safe way to stay superheroes, and that is with secret identities.”


	5. TimeBreaker

            On the steps of the Trocadéro Chat was wrapping up the most recent akuma attack. Ladybug had already left him, but it was ok. They both specialized in their own jobs. Ladybug handled the akuma catching and the press, while he used his power to help in his Lady’s schemes and used his people skills to help calm down the victims so they wouldn’t become akumatized anytime soon.

            Giving Alix one more pat on the shoulder, Chat extended his pole and jumped onto the nearest roof. As he was running home, something occurred to him. There were two Ladybugs. There was only one Chat Noir. Chat stopped what he was doing and pulled out the phone component of his baton and quickly texted Ladybug, hoping she would be able to read it. He wasn’t sure if it would reach her if she was no longer transformed.

            <<Hey! R u still up 4 patrol tonight?>> After staring at the screen for a moment Chat put away the baton and crawled down the roof and jumped into his room. Just as he was about to release his transformation his baton buzzed against his back. Ladybug had replied.

            <<Yep. Wouldn’t miss it.:-P>> Chat smiled and quickly replied with a cat emoji with its tongue sticking out. He could just almost see his lady rolling her eyes when she would read his text.

            Adrien grabbed a wedge of cheese and tossed it to Plagg, before he could complain, and sat down at his computer to await the time that he would once again be able to don his spandex suit.

000

            The two companions had already been scouring the city of Paris for about an hour and a half for Hawkmoth. The patrols had started out as a time for the two to try and catch victims before they became akumatized, but they soon learned that the attacks didn’t really have a rhyme or reason in relation to time. So instead the superheroes started devoting their time to look for their enemy. They reasoned that Hawkmoth’s lair must be somewhere in Paris for him to find his victims so quickly. With this reasoning the two decided to meet once a week to search Paris. As of yet, their plan was very unsuccessful. They had searched the whole of Paris at least ten times.

            “I’m starting to wonder if I should use my lucky charm to help us?” Ladybug stopped from the l’Arc de Triumphe and stared into the wide expanse of the city.

            Chat tentatively laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t give up yet. Let’s think. Where have we not looked?”

            “That’s the problem, Chat. We have looked everywhere. There is no place we haven’t looked.” Ladybug slumped against a chimney and closed her eyes. She paused for a long stretch of time, then decided to articulate what she was thinking. “What if we’re not meant to win? What if time gets the better of us and we get to Hawkmoth too late? We can’t exactly go back in time like the akuma victim did today. Our luck could run out any minute and…”Ladybug could have kept on going, but she was stopped by Chat as he roughly took her head in both of his hands.

            “Stop. Don’t do this to yourself, Ladybug. We will win. We’ll get there in time to save everyone, maybe even Hawkmoth. We won’t ever need to go back in time. And our luck most definitely will not run out. Sure, I am the embodiment of bad luck, but you have enormous amounts of GOOD luck. We balance each other out.” Ladybug was still not looking at Chat. Her eyes were looking anywhere but at him.

            With the smallest growl, Chat pushed Ladybug’s chin up so her eyes met his. “Do you understand?” Chat asked with a caring voice. Ladybug smiled just a little and nodded her head slightly. “We’re going to be fine.”

            Chat let go of Ladybug’s face and stepped back a little. “You ready to continue, My Lady?”

            Ladybug picked up her chipper mood again and pulled her yoyo out. “I am if you are.”

            After an hour of patrol, the two of them were about to collapse with exhaustion. When they were about to go their separate ways, Chat reached out to Ladybug. “My Lady? May I ask why you lost your usual chipper mood tonight?” When Ladybug’s back went rigid Chat stumbled over his words, to try and soften them. “I mean, not that it’s not ok, it’s just you’re usually more optimistic than….thinking the worst.”

            Ladybug turned slightly towards Chat. “No, it’s ok, you can ask anything you wish.” Ladybug took a quick breath and trained her eyes on Chat. “So you know how there were two Ladybugs today during the attack, but there was no second Chat Noir?” Chat just nodded. “Well, you got hit by Timebreaker, and you dissolved into air.”

            Chat nodded again and stood waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t he prompted her with a question. “And me getting hit has to do with….?”

            Ladybug flung her hands to her sides, irritated. “Chat NOIR! Do you realize that if I had failed in purifying the akuma you would have been stuck in no man’s land? Even though this battle was not very tough, anything can and will go wrong. I can’t lose you to any attack, Chat. Both of us are needed for every attack.” Ladybug lowered her voice as she realized she was shouting in the dead of night. She sighed once again. “I was just realizing tonight that we are growing up and everything is changing including the attacks. Our lives have changed so much from where we started, and will continue to change.”

            Chat put his hand on Ladybug’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright, Bugaboo. No matter how many times things change and how many times we jump in front of the bullets for one another, we’ll make it to the end together.” Chat was just about to brush away a stray strand of hair on Ladybug’s head when both of their miraculouses beeped.

            Ladybug smiled gratefully. “Thank you. See you soon, Kitty.”

            “Goodnight, My Lady.” With that, both Miraculous holders ran home.


	6. Mr. Pigeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little chapter. Thank you for reading!

            Marinette sat alone on the steps of the Trocadéro, save for Tikki, with a sketchbook and charcoal in her hand. Beside her were millions of crumpled pieces of ideas.

            “You know Marinette, you could use those ideas on different kinds of hats, you should save your ideas,” Tikki said from her perch on top of the purse. She pointed to the growing stack of crumpled sketches.

            “Don’t worry Tikki, I’ll keep them. I just like crumpling them because it gives me a sense of throwing them out of my mind. It gives me more of a chance to come up with better ideas.” Marinette stared at her blank page of paper, then at the world around her. No inspiration was coming to her mind. “Any ideas, Tikki?” Tikki shook her head.

            Marinette stared down at her blank page again. She closed her eyes and let her tired mind wander.

            Marinette had not seen Chat in ages, which is a good thing. That means there have been no akuma attacks as of late. But she did miss her little cabbage. Her eyes flew open.

            “How about a hat of Chat Noir?!” Tikki nodded, albeit a little mischievously. Marinette leaned close near her notebook and scribbled furiously. It was always hard to get the perfect image Marinette had in her head, but she somehow did it.

            Marinette tilted her head and looked at her handy work. In truth, the derby hat was adorable, but for some reason Marinette didn’t think the Chat Noir derby hat was appropriate for the assignment, so she ripped out yet another piece of paper from her sketchbook, but she didn’t crumple it.

            “Why aren’t you keeping that one Marinette, it was adorable.” Tikki said in dismay.

            “I know, Tikki, I just didn’t feel like it was right for the project. But now I don’t know what kind of derby hat I want to make now!” Marinette said in exasperation.

            A tall man with a pigeon shaped whistle around his neck strolled over to a park bench as a swarm of pigeons hovered around him.

            “Maybe a pigeon inspired derby hat would do.” Marinette smiled and went to work drawing the pigeon derby hat.


	7. Evillistrator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet!! Thank you for reading.

            Chloe could really get annoying sometimes. Ladybug could get really annoying sometimes. Right now was one of those times.

            Chat Noir sat grumpily on a very hard chair slowly doing Chloe’s physics homework. Ladybug had left about a half an hour ago because she could no longer cooperate with Chloe, leaving him alone. Chloe now stood in the opposite corner to him yapping like a small lap dog on her phone.

            Chat’s baton vibrated and rang from its place on his back. He jumped up with excitement, because there was only one person who would possibly call him. He left the boring homework on the floor and sprinted towards Chloe’s porch. “You can’t just decide to fly out of here then decide to make catcalls, Ladybug.”

            From the other side of the phone line, Ladybug’s sweet voice responded. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t cool. But you can leave Chloe. I need you to protect this girl instead.” Chat pulled his face away from his baton and looked down at the screen as a picture appeared. “Her name is Marinette. Pretty cute, isn’t she.” Chat couldn’t help but blush a little bit at the remark. “The Evillistrator is in love with her and promised not to hurt Chloe as long as Marinette comes to his birthday party. While he’s distracted I want you to take him down.” Ladybug continued. Chat put his baton back against his face.

            “What about you?”

            “I’m going on, ahh, an important secret mission. I’ll catch up with you later. Can you handle this alone?” While Ladybug had been talking Chloe had angrily come up to Chat and pointed with very sharp nails at her homework. Chat shoved Chloe’s face away from him as he assured Ladybug, “Ha, please. It’ll be a cinch.”

            Chat clicked the ‘end call’ button and turned to Chloe. “Looks like you don’t need protecting anymore. So….Later!” Chat jumped off the balcony using his baton for support, leaving Chloe’s shrieking behind him.

000

Chat Noir got closer to Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s house and bakery, that he had only been to a few times, and he saw Marinette talking calmly to Sabrina, her partner for the latest project. He landed quietly on the adjacent roof to where they were and listened to their conversation.

            “You bad, bad boy. Listening to a girl’s conversation. Your friend’s conversation, no less,” Plagg whispered to Adrien through the transformation.

            “Oh, shut up. She is just a friend, thank you. I just came here a little early so I could tell Marinette about my plan. I just didn’t plan on someone else being here. So, I am just going to stay hidden for a little bit.” Chat relaxed against the shingled roof.

            “Yes, you are going to stay hidden and eavesdrop on their conversation.” Adrien could just feel Plagg smirking. With his mind he shoved Plagg a little, then blocked off his brain to Plagg’s annoying comments. He then trained his cat ears on the conversation.

            “You know who else uses that excuse?” Sabrina asked. She had suddenly become all huffy in the past few milliseconds, and now stood with her arms fiercely crossed. Without giving Marinette a chance to respond, Sabrina continued. “Chloe!” Sabrina stomped away mumbling about doing Marinette’s geography homework. Marinette reached out with her hand to try and catch Sabrina, but stopped herself. Her hands returned to the straps of her bag.

            Chat jumped down from his perch and leaned against the door frame of the open door, scaring Marinette only a little bit. “Woah! I thought I was gonna have to save you from that girls’ claws.” Chat stopped and held up his own claws, waiting for a response from Marinette, but she looked like she was about to roll her eyes. Chat tried again. “Get it? Claws?” He smiled cheesily hoping he could get something out of her, but to no avail. _Huh? I don’t get it. She always laughs at my puns in class??_ Giving up, Chat Noir gave her a true smile and bowed. “Ah, all this talk and I have yet to introduce myself. I’m Chat Noir.” At instinct, Chat grabbed Marinette’s hand and kissed it with a tiny, audible sound. Only when her hand slid out of his did he realize what he had done. It wasn’t really bad, but he normally only kissed Ladybug’s hand, so it was sort of inappropriate for a “new” acquaintance. _What’s wrong with me?_

            Chat looked up and saw the lightest brush of pink on Marinette’s cheeks as she quickly said, “Uh, yeah! I know. You kind of save the day all the time and stuff. I’m Marinette so what are you doing here.” Chat waited for a second or two to let her words catch up with him because of the pace at which she was speaking. He then brought up his flare and dramatically told Marinette the news.

            “Well that birthday boy date of yours is bad news, Princess.” Chat turned around and started to flex his muscles. For some reason, after Ladybug had mentioned Marinette being cute, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. And while he was Chat Noir, his instinct was to….flex. _God, what am I doing,_ Adrien asked himself. _Why am I flirting with Marinette? I only ever flirt with Ladybug._ “But don’t worry, you’ll be safe with me,” Chat finished as he turned to face Marinette again.

            Chat looked at Marinette curiously as her arms flailed around as if she had just been….mocking him. Chat pushed that thought aside and tried to focus on what she was saying. “That puts my mind at ease.”

            Marinette put on a smile that Chat knew by instinct was fake. Chat Noir leaned closer to Marinette, relying heavily on the door frame, hoping to catch her off guard.

            “But I am going to need a little help. Care to assist a superhero?” Chat asked in what he hoped was a smoldering voice.

            Marinette turned so that her back was now facing him, and fidgeted with her bag. “What about Ladybug? Aren’t you a duo?”

            Chat stared at the back of her head, and something occurred to him. “She’s busy with something tonight,” he explained. “So you’ll get to be my Ladybug.” Marinette’s reaction was exactly what Chat was hoping to see.

            Her body tensed, and Chat could smell the smallest bit of fear radiate off of her. But just as he started to analyze her more, the fear dissipated, and she spun around to face him with a cool and collected composure

            “Me and Chat Noir?” Marinette thumped into the door frame where Chat’s hand had just been. “Fighting crime? Together? What do I do?” Chat could definitely smell the bull crap she was giving him, but he could also tell how jokingly she did so. _This is not the Marinette I know._ Chat smiled. “Just get that drawing pencil away from him Princess. I’ll take care of the rest.” He saluted her and ran off.

            Chat Noir landed on the roof of the television station a few blocks away and released his transformation. Adrien got out a piece of Camembert and offered it to Plagg, but Plagg didn’t take it. Plagg just laughed.

            “I can’t believe you were just flirting with Marinette. Your “friend”. Wait until everybody hears about this. You even called her Princess!” Plagg finally grabbed the Camembert and sat on Adrien’s shoulder.

            “Just eat the stinking cheese. You of all people should know that my heart only belongs to Ladybug.” Adrien sat down on the ledge of the building and pulled out a snack for himself.

            “Yeah, yeah, I know. You can never shut up about her. But what if they are the same person?” Plagg wiggled his eyebrows and Adrien just pushed Plagg out of his face playfully.

            “That’s impossible.”

000

            Adrien stayed in his spot on top of the broadcasting station till night fall, then he transformed to go find Marinette. It wasn’t long before he found her. He bounced from building to building, being careful to stay at her pace or a little faster.

            Marinette got onto the boat that the Evillistrator, or rather, Nathaneal had built. But before she got on, Chat noticed that the Evillistrator had dropped his pen and was holding his hand as if it was in pain. The boat quietly moved on as Chat wondered if it was possible that Hawkmoth could hurt his victims if they didn’t do what he wanted. Chat shook himself and put the little piece of information in a file folder to be used for later as he caught up with the moving vessel.

            Minutes felt like hours as Chat watched impatiently while Marinette was slowly getting closer to the Evillistrator. One problem that Chat kept on having was that he kept on spacing out as he watched and heard Marinette laugh or smile. He kept on having to shake himself out of crazy daydreams

            Finally a bridge came into view, which meant he could finally get onto the boat. With a few twirls, Chat landed quietly onto the deck of the boat. He climbed carefully closer and closer to Marinette and the Evillistrator. Marinette noticed his advances and put a simple hand out to stop him. _It’s weird how commanding she can be. I wonder why she’s not like this when she is around the other me?_ Chat thought to himself.

            At long last Marinette pulled away the pencil and Chat got ready for his attack, but the Evillistrator saw him. Marinette called out to Chat, telling him to act. He extended his staff so that the Evillistrator was somewhat trapped in his seat.

            Chat quickly glanced up to check if Marinette was ok and his jaw almost dropped. She stood in a fighting stance with the pen clenched safely in her hand. _So beautiful_. Adrien was lost again while Marinette and the Evillistrator went back and forth. He was so out of it he almost didn’t notice the Evillistrator knocking his baton out of his grip. As the akumatized Nathaneal sprinted towards Marinette, Chat let out a little growl of determination and sprang towards Nathaneal. But Nathaneal just took his pen and drew a simple box that locked Chat Noir and Marinette inside.

            “Shit!” Chat whispered to himself. “We’re trapped inside,” he said more to Marinette. He beat his baton on one of the edges of the box hoping it would give way. The rush of water filled both of their ears.

            A flash of red caught Chat’s eye. He quickly looked over at Marinette’s now open purse and felt his heart almost drop. It was a kawami. Specifically a red kawami with black spots. Not wanting to alarm Marinette, Chat concentrated on trying to get them out.

            Marinette tapped him on his shoulder and pointed to his baton, then to the roof of the box. “Hey, how about you extend your pole like this.” Chat smiled and looked at Marinette thoughtfully.

            “Great thinking!” Armed with a new hypothesis, Chat decided to pull Marinette close to him. She looked nervously at him and pushed his face away from hers.

            “Yeah…I’m a genius.” Marinette kept her body close to his, but in a more modest position. Chat extended his pole and pulled both of them onto the nearest bridge.

            Chat Noir gently laid his princess back on the ground and kissed her hand briefly. “Gotta go. A superhero’s work is never done.” Chat held up three fingers and counted down. “Damsels in distress, ladies in waiting… I’ve got a lot more saving to do. You can thank me later.” He winked and jumped away towards Chloe’s house. Only for a short minute did he have to stop because of his whirling thoughts.

            “Marinette’s Ladybug” Chat whispered. “No, that’s impossible. I must be seeing things.” With that, he continued his way to Chloe’s room.


	8. Copy Cat

“Nice catch,” Chat whispered in Ladybug’s ear. She purified the akuma and set it free. “So glad you could tell the real cat from the fake one,” he added, smiling at her gratefully.

Ladybug smirked. “Once I figured out which cat was really in love with me, it was a no brainer.” Ladybug pointed to Theo who was still lying on the ground. Chat just nodded, but Ladybug could tell that his body was tensed.

“Better help the fellow out. His crush just got crushed.” Chat waved farewell and walked away. Once he was out of earshot he whispered, “That makes two of us,” to himself. Ladybug noticed him hesitate when he left, but she dismissed it.

“What am I doing here? Ladybug?” Theo spoke up from his spot on the floor and Ladybug turned to him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it this morning, Theo,” Ladybug apologized. Theo looked down at the newspaper article in his hand, then held it up to her.

“Can you autograph it for me?”

“Of course I can. You’ve got some real artistry here.” Ladybug stared down at the picture of the statue that now stood in the park next to her family’s bakery. “You really captured my essence.”

“Thank you, Ladybug. And don’t worry, I know about you and Chat Noir. It’s ok.” Ladybug tilted her head to the side. _What’s between Chat Noir and I? I never said anything about us being togeth….._ Ladybug stopped her train of thought before it got onto dangerous territory.

Ladybug helped Theo stand up, waved goodbye, and raced home before she could turn back.

000

            Later that night, Marinette sat alone in her garden above her room. Tikki had long since fallen asleep in Marinette’s bed, but Marinette didn’t quite feel like joining her yet; there was too much on her mind.

            At the end of their battle Chat had seemed more detached than normal. Marinette knew that they both kept secrets from each other to keep their identities hidden, but Chat just wasn’t acting right.

            “I guess the whole topic of our ‘relationship’ might have changed his attitude. But he knows that I always block his advances. It is just a little game we play while in battle. I mean he’s not serious about me. He just jokes around…..Right?” Marinette whispered to herself.

            Marinette closed her eyes and saw memories of Chat smirking, laughing, falling on her, call her ‘Milady’, and ‘Bugaboo’. Marinette smiled. She opened her eyes and looked out at her beautiful city. In her ears, a soundtrack of Chat’s puns played, making her laugh. She would never mention it to her chaton, but she did enjoy some of the puns.

            “Ughh!” Marinette yelled, letting her Ladybug side take over. “I hear enough puns as it is, I don’t need to replay each one, Brain!” Marinette paused and laughed at herself. “I can’t believe I’m talking to my brain. It’s official! I’m losing it!” Mariette took one more look at her city, then turned and went downstairs to deal with how she would approach Adrien tomorrow about his phone.

            Marinette hummed as she turned Adrien’s phone over and over in her hands. “Maybe I can slip it into his bag without him noticing. He could get his phone back…., but then I won’t be able to ask him to the movies. Well, it’s better than improvising and messing everything up.” Marinette suddenly stopped turning Adrien’s phone over as a green paw print on the edge of his phone case caught her attention.

            She let one slender finger slide across the paw print. It was slightly raised, and with just a little push the paw print sank and opened the tiniest pocket in the phone case. Marinette’s wide eyes stared at the small slip of paper that lay in the small pocket. With a slight hesitation, Marinette pulled out the paper and unfolded it. On the paper was scrawled _Love is Strength_ with a delicately drawn ladybug beside the quote. Marinette stopped breathing.

            Images of Adrien appeared before her vision. Times when she had mentioned Ladybug and he had blushed. These memories were then replaced with images of Chat Noir where he was _flirting_ with her and smiling at her cheekily.

            Marinette dropped the piece of paper back into the secret compartment of the phone case, threw Adrien’s phone into her school bag, and hurled herself onto her bed and covered her eyes. “Which one is real?” She whispered into her dark room.


	9. RogerCop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for this episode from a comic by Eli the Queen Bee. Such a great comic. Thank you for reading!

            “So now we’re the nation’s most wanted felons?” Chat crouched behind a chimney with his arms crossed. Ladybug followed suit.

            “But we haven’t done anything!” Ladybug whispered angrily. Chat nodded in agreement.

            “You’re right. You can’t accuse someone without proof.” Chat stood up. “We should go and defend ourselves in the court of law!” He raised his arm as if he was leading an army into a battle. A helicopter light caught Chat’s hand, and Ladybug pulled him down again quick enough that the helicopter moved on.

            “Yeah that won’t be happening while RogerCop is the chief of justice.” Ladybug leaned her head heavily against the chimney while Chat stole a look around it.

            “How many times have we saved Paris?” Chat asked exasperatedly

            “We’re still saving Paris.” Ladybug snuck her head around the brick chimney as well and eyed the police force. Chat turned and looked at her eyes, and saw an idea forming.

            “So what’s your plan for getting past these guys???” Chat whispered, leaning close to Ladybug’s ear so as not to attract attention.

            Ladybug smiled innocently. “Live bait.”

            Chat nodded, agreeing. “Great idea.” Chat turned to look at the police force, then it dawned on him. He whipped his head back. “Hey!”

            “Oh come on Kitty. I just need you to create a diversion.” Ladybug widened her eyes and brought her face into a cute pout. “Pretty please,” Ladybug requested. Chat started to whimper.

            “Oh please not the baby doll eyes!” Chat pleaded. “How did you even learn to do that….Fine I’ll do it.” Ladybug dropped her charade, smiled, and clapped her hands together. “Ughh. What do you want me to do?” Chat grumpily looked away from Ladybug. “Dress in drag and do the hula?” Ladybug’s smile widened. “NO. N. O. Not happening. You know when I’m kidding right?” Chat was about to break into a cold sweat as he looked at Ladybug, searching for any sign that was she was joking.

            Ladybug giggled. “Yes, I know when you are kidding. Honestly, I just need a distraction so I can get past the police. Can you do that?”

            “Of course My Lady.” Instead of the signature kiss on the hand, Chat Noir rested the palm of his hand against Ladybug’s cheek for a second before leaping off the roof.

            Chat extended his pole to the ground just as a helicopter spotted him. _Oh this is going to be so much fun!_ Chat spun down the pole, and he could just feel his lady behind him, shaking her head at the ridiculousness.

            Once he hit the ground Chat let his inner self out as he tap danced to his heart’s delight. “Something about Paris just makes you want to dance.” Chat leaned up against his pole and smirked up at the big televisions mounted on top of the walls of the city hall.

            “You won’t be dancing after I’m through with you,” RogerCop called in his monotone voice. “Arrest him.” With a flick of RogerCop’s sturdy wrist, the whole police force raced towards Chat Noir.

            “Does that mean you won’t be joining me?” Chat Noir asked as he dove under the police’s arms and sprung himself into the air. By using the police as diving boards, Chat knocked out police officer after police officer in a matter of seconds. In the corner of his eye he saw a red blur make it into the building.

            As Chat was momentarily distracted, a police officer attempted to launch himself on top of Chat, but every cat has great reflexes, so Chat was able to easily push the man onto the stack of police officers.

            _Only two more to go_ , Chat thought. The two left were the burliest of all. Smiling, Chat ran towards the two. Taking one by the leg Chat threw the man around and around his head while singing a little hula tune he remembered form _The Lion King_. Chat threw a discarded walkie-talkie with its wires around his neck as he easily threw the guards onto the stack.

            Chat shimmied in his imaginary skirt to the left and right. He spotted one more police officer hiding in the corner. Chat took the woman police officer by the hand and led her into the song and dance. Finally he threw her into the stack with a loud “OY!” He smiled happily. “Ok, show’s over. Sorry no encore tonight, boys.” He bowed to his aching audience, then ran into the City Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the idea for this episode from a comic by Eli the Queen Bee. Such a great comic. Thank you for reading!


	10. Dark Cupid

            “Chat Noir! Get her Miraculous!” Dark Cupid yelled. Ladybug stared into her companions face. She was trapped under him. Ladybug briefly thought about trying to make her escape, but the constant whirring and crackling of the cataclysm kept her in place.

            Chat Noir’s eyes bore in hers and a too wide of a smile spread across his face. “Finally I’ll find out who you really are, Ladybug. Your secret will be out of the bag!” His left hand found her ear, and he pushed her earlobe closer to him.

            During all of the akuma attacks, Ladybug had never been as scared. The thought of her closest friend destroying some of her flesh and her kawami with his cataclysm sent cold shivers up and down her body. _I have to do something,_ Ladybug frantically thought. For the second time that day, Ladybug was reminded of her teacher’s lesson: love conquers hate. _But what kind of love can I offer to Chat?_

In a span of seconds, Chat’s crackling hand had made it to her earlobe, and he was just about to touch her when Ladybug made up her mind. She grabbed his head in both of her hands and jammed her lips against his.

            Ladybug felt Chat flinch underneath her hands, but she held on. Everything about her body was tense. Her back was ridged, her eyes were shut tightly, and she didn’t dare move her hands. Her mind was frantically wondering about what the heck she was doing. Ladybug was starting to worry that this was not going to break the spell that Chat was under when he started to move against her.

            Chat gently moved his chapped, black lips against Ladybug’s and she felt herself melt. Ladybug arched her back and pulled herself closer to Chat. He put his left hand down on the ground beside Ladybug’s head to keep his balance as the kiss deepened. Ladybug kept her hands on his cheeks, but she lightly rubbed small circles on his cheeks. Chat’s lips became soft as the curse lifted. A warm shivering spark spread across her skin where Chat’s arm brushed her shoulder. She wanted the kiss to go on, but her chest screamed for air, so she let go.

            Ladybug’s back hit the ground with an audible ‘thunk’. She immediately opened her eyes and searched Chat’s face. His face showed shock and bewilderment as he looked at his surroundings. “What am I doing here?” he asked.

            Ladybug noticed with satisfaction that the black lipstick was now gone, but other than that, her mind was blank. _I kissed Chat…….I kissed CHAT!_ Reality quickly hit her in the head hard and she sprang to her feet. _No time to worry about that now_. Ladybug picked up Chat Noir and threw him, telling him to destroy the quiver around Dark Cupid’s chest then grab the pin.

            Chat followed Ladybug’s order without question and snatched the pin off of Kim’s shirt. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” Chat cried as he threw the pin to Ladybug.

            “Aww, you shouldn’t have.’ Ladybug caught it then threw the pin to the ground, shattering it. “Oops.” Out of the crushed pieces of the broken pendent flew the akuma. Ladybug unhooked her yoyo from her belt and swung it towards the akuma yelling “Time to de-evilize!” Ladybug caught the little butterfly, purified it, and then set it free. “Bye, bye little butterfly.” To finish her job Ladybug picked up her Lucky Charm and threw it into the sky and cast her Miraculous Ladybug charm.

            “Pound it!” Chat Noir and Ladybug pounded their fists together and smiled at each other. As soon as they pulled away, their miraculous beeped simultaneously.

            “Oops! It looks like we’re both going to turn into pumpkins in a few minutes. And personally, I wouldn’t like to see that,” Ladybug said. She was just about to sprint away when Chat held out a hand.

            “Wait! Ladybug, I need to talk to you about something.” Chat’s ears flattened against the top of his head and he nervously cast his eyes away from her.

            Ladybug jumped a little and blushed beneath her mask. “Yeah, about that kiss. I only kissed you because I needed to break the curse, and…” Ladybug said in a hurry.

            Chat interrupted her. “What kiss?” His ears popped back up and he tilted his head to one side.

            _He doesn’t remember anything._ With a sudden tightness in her throat, Ladybug replied. “Oh, never mind. See you later.” Without daring to look back, Ladybug flew away.

000

            Adrien sat at his desk with only the moon illuminating his room. Plagg had passed out in Adrien’s bed hours ago after having a good dinner of Camembert. Adrien’s body was resisting sleep at the moment so he had decided to just wait it out.

            On his desk lay his phone and the heart valentine that he had gotten from his secret admirer. He hoped it was from Ladybug, but he reasoned that it was probably from someone in his class. Another person’s image replaced Ladybug’s image in his mind’s eye. _Marinette_.

            Adrien picked up his phone and traced the side until he found the raised paw print. He folded up the letter and placed it into the compartment with a smile.

            Adrien lay down on his bed as he felt sleep crawl over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Readers! This one was fun to write, but also really hard. I found that I have problems writing kissing scenes. XD Anyway, thank you for reading!


	11. Horrificator

            “I am confiscating this,” Alya said. She ripped the copy of the film the class had made for the Paris film festival out of Nino’s hands. The young Spielberg started making noises of protest, but shut up at Alya’s face. “I know you’re really proud of it, but it has no plot at all!”

            “But that’s what’s so cool about it. Plus it has the real Ladybug and Chat Noir in it!” Nino replied.

            “Yeah, I guess it was cool the first time we saw it, but by the fifteenth time of you shoving it in our faces it still doesn’t make any sense!”

            “Well you just don’t realize how artistically cool it is. I broke the fourth wall smoothly throughout and…”

            “But it’s so stupid. You made up your own script along the whole way without telling me!! Rude.”

            Marinette stood behind Alya shaking her head. It had been a week since the group had shown their film to the mayor, and Nino still couldn’t get the rejection out of his head. He had since then taken to arguing with Alya about the film. Marinette and Adrien were therefore thrown together a lot to giggle about their best friends. (Marinette is still not sure to this day how she was able to have a conversation with Adrien, but it happened.) They had even jokingly come up with a ship name for the two. Marinette was pulled out of her ponderings when Alya turned on her.

            “What do you thing Mari?” Marinette just blankly looked at Alya with wide eyes, clearly saying she had not been listening.

            “Uggh, well the movie would have been way better if we didn’t have that one bathroom scene.” Alya crossed her arms, and the argument ended.

            “But can’t you just give me back my movie. I promise I won’t make you guys watch it again,” Nino pleaded. Alya just shook her head.

            “Nope. And just in case you think you can steal it back from me, I’m giving it to Marinette to keep.” Alya handed over the disc to Marinette. Mari looked at Alya, bewildered.

            “NO!! Please Don’t! You know Marinette drops everything!” Nino cried, placing his hands on either side of his face.

            Marinette’s chin dropped. “I do not!” Marinette determinedly shoved the disk into her bag and stomped off.

            “Now you’ll never get it back,” Alya whispered playfully into Nino’s ear. Nino dramatically fell to his knees and yelled curses to the sky. Alya just snickered.

000

It was night time and Marinette sat at her desk, finishing some designs. She sighed and scooted away from her desk.

            “Are you alright, Marinette?” Tikki asked, munching on a cookie.

            “Oh! Yeah. I just kind of feel like watching a movie while I think about my designs, but I can’t decide which one to watch. I’m tired of all the movies I already have, but I don’t have any new ones to watch.” Marinette slumped I her spinney chair and closed her eyes, thinking.

            “How about this one?” asked a deep voice from the other side of the room.

            Marinette jumped up and grabbed the nearest weapon; her stapler. “Stand back!” She yelled as she spun around to face her attacker with her pink, flowery stapler. There stood Chat, looking a little petrified, with both of his hands in the air.

            “Hey, it’s just me, Princess. No need to get violent with me. May I remind you that I saved your life once!” Chat’s voice changed many octaves as he tried to calm Marinette down.

            “If I remember correctly, I believe I did the saving, while you tried to break the box open by hitting it weakly.”

            Chat made a face at ‘weakly’, but then he just nodded his head in surrender. “Touché.”

            Marinette lowered the stapler onto her desk and crossed her arms. “So what do I owe the pleasure?”

            Chat Noir lowered his hands cautiously and shrugged. “I just felt like visiting my favorite civilian.”

            “Uh-huh.” Marinette sounded unconvinced.

            “Honest.” Chat lifted up his hands again in surrender. “Now you were saying you wanted to watch a movie, right? Well how about this one.” Chat held up the disk that contained the movie that Nino treasured like a baby. “On the package it says that it’s called The Horrificator? Sounds interesting.”

            Marinette nodded. “Yeah, it’s the film one of my friends, Nino, made when an akuma came to our school, called the Horrificator, attacked. If I remember correctly, you and Ladybug were in the majority of the film.”

            “Really? Do you mind watching it? I’d like to see it from a different angle.” Chat smiled, hopefully.

            Marinette sat down in her chair that was in front of her computer and spun it around to face Chat. “Whoever said you would be watching any movie with me? Besides, I’ve already seen way too much of the movie. I do NOT need to see it again.” Chat’s face fell, but a playful look got into his eye. Marinette eyed him wearily. As Ladybug she had seen this look in his eye many times, and often before he did something dastardly. Chat got down before her and looked up at her with wide, kitty eyes. “NO! N. O, Kitty. I’m not going…” Marinette stopped as Chat started to rub his head against her knee, purring. Marinette’s chest jumped in surprise and a tingling feeling spread across her skin, creating goosebumps.

            Chat looked exactly like a cat, or a kitten, as he rubbed his cheek against her knee, giving her a cute look every once in a while.

            “Ughh, fine! I’ll watch it with you, just get off,” Marinette declared in surrender. Marinette grabbed the DVD quickly, trying to find something to do while her face returned to its natural color, and popped it into her computer as Chat pulled up a chair beside her. The film icon appeared and started the movie. Mari grabbed a blanket from her bed and offered half of it to Chat. He took it gratefully and pulled his chair closer to hers so it was easier to share the blanket.

            The movie opened up to a freeze frame of all of their classmates screaming as the Horrificator creeped up behind them. Nino’s voice came in to commentate, saying: “This is the day where everyone died. All by the hands of that monster back there. But let me back up. Like all other horror films, the day started out just like normal.” The current image faded and in came the scene of Adrien and Mylene talking. Mylene was able to get through her lines, but as she stood up, she screamed in fright. They could hear Nino yell cut and the whole scene started again, and again. Eventually the camera panned out and Nino’s voice told the audience the premise of the story. He talked about how a group of students had gotten together to make a movie, but they were having enormous amounts of problems, resulting in their leading lady walking out on them.

            The scene finally changed, but instead of Mylene as Agent Smith, it was Chloe. She spoke a few made up lines then leaned towards Adrien to kiss him, but he quickly tried to lean out of the way. The film stopped again and Chloe was then replaced by Marinette. Marinette, or rather Agent Smith, tentatively said her lines then carefully leaned towards Adrien. The boy reciprocated the actions, but once again the kiss was stopped.

            “That boy is one lucky guy” Chat commented. “In that scene he almost kissed three girls, or could have.”

            “Yeah, he’s dreamy.” As soon as Adrien had appeared on the screen, Marinette had melted into a pile of silly putty. Chat’s attention was pulled away from the screen as he looked incredulously at Marinette. Although, his attention was brought back to the screen as loud shouts were made. The akuma had claimed its victim.

            The movie progressed, as well as the evening. The cold night air started to creep through Marinette’s open window and the two friends unconsciously huddled closer under the blanket. The pair giggled at all the right moments in the movie, and by the tenth break in the fourth wall, Chat was feeling like hitting Nino over the head the next day with the DVD. The bathroom scene that Alya had mentioned was indeed very terrible. It consisted of Nino and Chloe trying to be smart asses and annoying the heck out of the Horrificator. For some odd reason, Adrien had never gotten a chance to watch the film with his best friend, and in a very weird way, he was happy that he was finally seeing it. Even though it was so terrible, it was funny, and Chat enjoyed it immensely.

At some point while watching the movie Marinette had laid her head down on Chat’s shoulder; neither of them had noticed. And by the time the credits rolled, both of them had dozed off on each other.

Chat was woken by the lack of sound coming from the computer, and he groggily opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. _Where am I?_ Chat looked down at Marinette’s sleeping head and the memories streamed back. Chat petted Marinette’s head in a dream-like state but when his ring beeped, Chat reluctantly let go of Marinette and tried to get up… and failed.

Marinette instinctively held on to Chat’s neck and she nuzzled into his neck. Shocked by her reaction, Chat froze, but tentatively tried to pry her hands off of his neck. They wouldn’t budge. Chat Noir sighed, realizing what he would have to do if he didn’t want to wake her up. Chat wound his arms under Marinette’s knees and around her back. He picked her up along with the pink, fuzzy blanket and carried her carefully up the ladder to her bed. Chat placed her down onto the mattress and carefully unwound her arms from around his neck. She only protested a little, but she soon curled up around a pillow on her bed.

Chat smiled tenderly at the sleeping princess, and he brushed away the hair that had fallen in her face. “Goodnight, Princess.” He started to make his way down the ladder when he heard Marinette whimper.

            “Kitty?” Marinette blearily sat up. She looked completely disoriented, but she knew what she was looking for and she grabbed Chat’s leather covered hand that was still on one of the rungs of the ladder. Marinette squished her cheek up against the hand as she closed her eyes again.

            “Princess, I need my hand back.” Chat chuckled as she tried to turn over with his hand still clutched to her cheek.

            “No. It’s mine now.” Marinette said childishly. Chat poked her side playfully.

            “I know you’re awake. Come on, give Kitty his hand back.” Marinette reluctantly let go. She pouted as she watched Chat walk farther away from her. “I’m sorry, but I need to go, Princess. I only have a few minutes.” Chat blew her a dramatic kiss. “I’ll see you around.” With that, Chat bounced out of the window.

            Marinette sighed. “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. What am I going to do with you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another longish chapter! I have entered into the Marichatrash world. I don't regret it. Thank you for reading!


	12. Darkblade

            _Feathers_. _Fencing_. _Punny_. These are just a few of the things that Ladybug has noticed about Chat. These little quirks were not just normal parts of his personality that she has noticed. These tidbits are things that Ladybug can use to identify Chat out of mask.

            Ladybug didn’t really intentionally pick out things that would connect him to his civilian form, but her mind just instinctively wrote them down and put them away in a file folder for later use.

            At first she was just keeping this list in her brain, but the words were soon coming out onto the pages of her diary. Marinette knew that she couldn’t tell anyone about this yet (also the billions of other secrets she had put down in her journal), so she decided to make a trap for anyone who thought they could learn more about the quiet fifteen year old girl. She truthfully got inspired after she thought more about the secret compartment in Adrien’s phone case, but she wanted to make it harder to open.

            After months of planning and stealing tools (and often odd shaped kitchen tools) Marinette finished her trap. _And just in time I’d say_ , Marinette thought to herself as she grasped Sabrina’s arm. With the upcoming election for class president, Marinette should have known Chloe would do something like this. Marinette held up the key to her locked box to the class so they could see what she was doing clearly. The key clicked and the box that held her diary snapped off of Sabrina’s hand.

            “Got an explanation, Chloe?” Alya asked, always being the one to support her best friend.

            “I told you!” Chloe raged, “I never took her diary. And I’m offended that you’re accusing me!” She dramatically tossed her head so that a cloud of hairspray puffed off of her.

            Marinette was not always good at comebacks, but for once, Marinette felt her Ladybug side help her out a little bit. “Then how did you even know my diary was in here?” The class took a collective gasp and looked eagerly at the two girls, secretly hoping for some kind of cat fight.

            “Oh, well….Sabrina told me. It was her IDEA!” Chloe tried to defend herself and put herself in a better light, but it didn’t work. The whole class turned on her.

            Alya took a step closer to her best friend and whispered in her ear. “At least now we know nobody is going to vote for Chloe. You’re gonna be our new representative!” Marinette shook her head.

            “No Alya.” Chloe heard this and laughed.

            “Ha! See? She’s undependable! She’s already throwing in the towel!”

            Marinette frowned and stood her ground. Unbeknownst to her, Adrien had stopped a foot away from the doors to the hotel and had turned towards Marinette’s defiant voice.

            “No, I’m not! I just want to be voted in fairly, not because you don’t want to vote for Chloe, but because you believe in me.” Marinette stepped closer in to the crowd of students, making sure everyone in the room could hear her. Even the Mayor and Jagged Stone turned their ears on her “The thing is… I’m not going to be able to get you everything you want, but I’m resourceful and I know how to prioritize. I’m a good listener and a great multitasker. Representing you all is something I truly believe in. And most importantly, I believe in myself. So…Vote for Marinette for class representative!”

            Everyone in the room clapped and cheered her on. Marinette smiled at the people before her, soaking in their happiness as she held her diary close to her.

            One thing that Marinette’ mind could not let go of even after she had wished everyone a goodnight, as she left for home, was that she was missing one face. She was missing one face that had always looked at her like she was doing something brilliant. The face that brightened whenever it would look her way. The eyes that always told her what she was doing right, and no matter what, would protect her. That is one other thing that Marinette could add to her list. _Trustworthy_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little drabble. Thanks for reading!


	13. The Mime

            “Get out of the car and find a place to hide. I’ll cover you!”

            Adrien looked up and out of the window and his jaw dropped. Just outside of his window stood the most majestic, miraculous, and gorgeous person, Ladybug. Adrien blocked out the rest of the world as he zeroed in on his beloved.

            Ladybug threw her yoyo back and forth, defending herself and Adrien. Then she tossed her yoyo round and round till it became a blur. While her shield was up she turned towards the people in the car. Adrien saw birds singing as he watched the beautiful black and blue pigtails float around her face as she turned towards him, and time stopped. Green eyes met blue in a matter of moments, and the two, lovesick teenagers just looked longingly into each other’s eyes. Nothing else mattered to the two of them. They didn’t care about Adrien’s protectors looking at the two of them, dumfounded. Ladybug and Adrien didn’t even care about the fierce Mime throwing imaginary arrows at them. All they cared about was the other person and how the world started to sing and dance. Even the grass started to sing a love song.

            An arrow broke through Ladybug’s shield, and just barely missed Adrien’s face. Ladybug and Adrien jumped out of their trance and glared angrily at the Mime who had dared to break up the best moments of their lives.

            Ladybug brought up her shield again and yelled at Adrien, Natalie, and Gorilla to move. Natalie grabbed Adrien’s arm and pulled him away from the window just in time. A moment later the car was blasted apart.

            In the hubbub of the attack, Adrien separated himself from Natalie and hid himself behind a column of the nearest building. Once he checked to make sure no one was around, he let his kawami out of his shirt. Adrien expected Plagg to whine about having no cheese or about how his charge would not stop yammering about “his beloved Ladybug”, but Plagg didn’t utter a word. Instead, Plagg looked at Adrien knowingly, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. A faint tint of blush tainted Adrien’s cheeks. He stubbornly held out his fist and called the kawami to the ring. Sadly, that did not alleviate Adrien of his kawami’s teasing. As Adrien ran to go and help Ladybug, Plagg was whispering snide comments inside his brain. _This is going to be a very long fight,_ Adrien thought to himself. _I’m going to starve that cat._

            Chat sprung back onto the street in time to see Ladybug being pulled towards the Mime with an imaginary rope. Chat extended his pole, and knocked the Mime off balance. “Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!” _She’s My Lady,_ Chat finished in his head. _My Princess_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, but a fun one. Ladrien is so funny sometimes because they are so in love of each other. Thank you for reading!


	14. Kung Food

            Adrien was starting to realize that he didn’t know Marinette very well. Sure he knew her as his friend from school, and his partner while in battle, but he noticed that he hardly knew what her favorite color was. Therefore, he didn’t really know why he had accepted Alya’s invitation. Yes, he really wanted to know more about Marinette, but one on one time with her right now seemed, well, painfully awkward.

            _Be cool Adrien, be cool_ , Adrien thought to himself as he climbed up the stairs to Marinette’s home. _Don’t freak out. If you freak out, so will she, then everything will be doubly awkward_. Adrien knocked softly on the white-ish pink door and put a friendly smile on his face. He heard some crashing noises from the other side of the door, and he was about to let himself in to check if anyone had gotten hurt, when Marinette swung the door open.

            “Hey Marinette!”

            For a split second Adrien saw the calm Marinette that he had only seen from afar, but she quickly jumped into her normal, flustered self. Her eyes bugged out as her body froze. The only thing that wasn’t frozen were her hands. Marinette’s hands flew from one side of her face to the other in a nervous flurry of activity. Adrien had always mistaken her nervousness for fear, and he always wondered what he had done, but his brain never failed to whisper _cute, cute, cute cute…._

“ADRIEN!!!!? What in the-uh- what are you-“ Marinette continued to babble, but Adrien decided to step in.

            “Alya called me. She said you needed someone who spoke Chinese? Well, here I am!” Adrien swept his arm out dramatically and bowed. “Translator at your service.” Still in the bowing position, Adrien widened his eyes and he started to sweat. _Shit! Why did I do the bow thing! I’m not Chat Noir right now!_ Adrien looked at Marinette through his eyelashes to gauge her reaction, but it seemed pretty normal…by Marinette standard.

            “No! I mean, yes! Uh, where’s Alya?” Marinette had started to twitch (well it’s no wonder, she keeps on changing her mind every few seconds), but stopped when her phone beeped. Apparently Alya had texted her news that she would not be coming with Adrien. Marinette smiled nervously and let Adrien in.

            “A-Adrien, this is my uncle, Cheng Si-Fu.” Marinette nervously introduced the two. Adrien bowed politely and introduced himself in Mandarin. Adrien and Marinette’s uncle continued to make polite conversation as the three of them sat on the couch together.

            When there was a lapse in conversation, Adrien spoke in French to Marinette. “Hey, uh, when does your uncle need to be at the contest?” Marinette jumped in surprise, and then tried to connect her sentences.

            “Uh…we go need, I mean… We need to be there by midnight, no midday.”

            Adrien looked at his phone and noticed it was a quarter till. “Then we should probably get going.”

            Marinette looked questioningly at Adrien. “No, we have at least an hour before…” Marinette trailed off as she looked at the clock on the wall. The hands had not moved all morning. Marinette bounced up. “Oh no! We’re gonna be late and Cheng Si-Fu won’t be allowed into the building and we’ll be forced out of the country, and, and…”Adrien put his hand over hers in an attempt to calm her down, instead it just made her more nervous, so Adrien opted for putting his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

            “Marinette, we’re not going to be late. We have enough time-“

            Marinette cut him off. “But we have to walk all the way there and...”

            “Mari, my bodyguard is still here. He can drive us. Alright?” Marinette blushed with embarrassment and nodded meekly. Adrien gave her a reassuring smile while he motioned to Cheng Si-Fu for him to join them. With Adrien in the lead, everyone headed off to the competition.

000

            “This isn’t right, and I’m certain Chloe’s got something to do with it.” Marinette glared at Chloe’s receding figure.

            Adrien nodded in agreement. “I’d like to say you’re wrong, but I know her only too well.” Adrien had known Chloe since they were both still in diapers, and he had seen the spoiled little girl she became. It had not been a pleasant sight. Once upon a time, Chloe had been the nicest little girl, but that was before they both lost their mothers. Life had been simple when each of their families had been whole. It looked like grief took a different toll on each person.

            Adrien followed Marinette and helped her try to console her uncle, but Cheng Si-Fu sadly just looked away, repeating “I shall never be ‘World’s Greatest Chef.’” Marinette was about to follow her uncle to the kitchens, but Adrien held her back.

            “It’s horrible to lose, especially as the face of China. We need to give him time. We’ll wait for him downstairs.”  With only a little pull of her arm did Adrien get Marinette to follow him downstairs. It was a quiet trip down, and sort of awkward in Adrien’s opinion. _Hmmm, maybe I should try to get her mind off of her uncle. Today was supposed to be fun_. Mari and Adrien settled themselves near a large bouquet of roses in the front lobby, and they shared a bench in front of it. Even though Marinette was a little distracted, Adrien could tell that she was still nervous around him. Adrien bounced his knee up and down, contemplating what he should say when it came to him.

            “What’s your favorite color?” Adrien asked hurriedly. Marinette broke out of her trance-like state and turned her head towards him.

            “What did you say?” Up and down went Adrien’s knee. _She didn’t hear me_.

            “Uhh, I was just wondering what your favorite color was.”

            “Why?” Marinette tried to keep her composure as she was talking to him so she wouldn’t blow up in excitement… and Adrien could tell. Let’s just say it was his cat instincts that told him.

            “Well, I was thinking earlier today about how I hardly knew you, and well it’s pretty ridiculous isn’t it? You’re one of my best friends, and I don’t even know your favorite color. _Purr_ -ty funny isn’t it?” Adrien held a hopefully nice smile. He hoped Marinette wouldn’t cave in like she did while she was in the suit. He really did want to know more about her.

            “Yeah, it is kind of funny,” Marinette said in a small, shy voice.

            “So what is it? What’s your favorite color?”

            “Pink… no green.”

            “Ahh!” Adrien faked a scream. Marinette looked at him oddly. Adrien grinned apologetically. “Sorry. What you said reminded me of a Monty Python and the Holy Grail quote.”

            “I know the quote,” Marinette said, offended. “It’s one of my favorite movies. I’m actually surprised that you know it.”

            Adrien laughed. “Please. I’ve watched that movie so many times, along with the musical Spamalot, that I could quote the whole movie in my sleep, or while dancing the tango.”      

            “Even the subtitles?” Marinette asked,

            “Even the subtitles,” replied Adrien. “Would you like me to recite them for my lad- I mean Princ- Marinette?” _Shit_. Thankfully (and miraculously) Marinette didn’t notice Adrien’s slip up, and begged him to recite a few.

            Adrien coughed a little and was about to tell Marinette about some moose and llamas when a camera man was running towards them yelling “Get OUT! Hurry! Get out while you still CAN!”

            “It looks like we’ll have to get back to our conversation later. We got to find a way out.” Adrien made sure Marinette was safe before hurrying away to get dressed in his cat suit. It was time for the main course.

000

            Later that night, Adrien’s bodyguard drove the three companions back to Marinette’s home after a very long and filling day. As Adrien said good night to Marinette she surprisingly brought up Monty Python’s Holy Grail again.

            “That was really cool to find another person who liked the same kind of jokes that I do. Maybe we could, um… get together sometime to, uh, watch it together… maybe?” Marinette had lost her nerves around Adrien momentarily, and smiled up at him. Adrien’s face lit up at the suggestion.

            “That would be really cool. I’d really like that. Oh, here’s my phone number if you’d like to set up a time for us to do it… uh I mean watch the movie.” Sometimes being Chat Noir, or just being around Plagg all the time was giving Adrien a dirty mind.

            At taking the phone number form Adrien, Marinette was brought back to her nervous reality and she fumbled around with the slip of paper as she said goodnight. Adrien was just about to leave, but Marinette opened her door again.

            “Uh, Adrien, I never got around to asking you, but what is your favorite color?”

            Adrien turned his head and smiled over his shoulder. “My favorite color is bluebell…like your eyes.” Marinette’s face erupted into a red, and burning balloon.

            _So cute!_ Adrien thought to himself. _She is so adorable when she is blushing_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ADRIENETTE! Such a cute ship, thank you for reading.


	15. The Gamer

            “Lucky Charm!” Ladybug yelled, throwing her yoyo up into the sky. A deck of tarot cards flew down and landed in her hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do with these?”

            “Uh, maybe you could tell him his future for him. I’d bet he’d love that.” Chat responded, sarcastically. He jumped out of the way of another razor sharp term paper.

            They were on the streets of Paris once again, and as always Chat Noir and Ladybug fell into the same rhythm where Chat distracted, and Ladybug came up with the plan. Ladybug was sitting on top of a light pole, looking closer at the tarot cards in her hand. Like the rest of her lucky charms, it was Ladybug themed. On the face side of the cards, they were just like any other tarot deck, but there was one difference. Instead of just pictures, there was a clear meaning written on each card. Ladybug thought about the motives of the victim. He was getting ready for the end of term exams, and he had probably got too stressed after a failed assignment. “Hmm, maybe Chat was right. I wonder if I should try showing him his future.”

            “Ladybug, watch out!” Chat cried. The Studier had turned his attention on Ladybug and was hurtling towards her, ready to throw his razors at any time. In a split second decision Ladybug jumped out of the way to lead the victim farther away, but she left the deck of cards on the ground, free for Chat to grab.

            Without any physical or verbal communication, Chat grabbed the deck of cards and pulled three of them out specifically. Chat stashed the cards in his belt and went after the akuma. In a series of seconds Chat bounced off of the walls of the buildings to land in front of the akuma while Ladybug pulled away to give him a space to land. Ladybug threw her yoyo around The Studier, effectively pinning his arms to his sides. _I sure hope this works_.

            Chat held up the three backs of the cards to The Studier. “Do you know what these are?” Chat asked. The Studier stopped trying to get away and his eyes widened.

            “Those are Tarot cards, of course.” Both Ladybug and Chat Noir breathed a quiet sigh of relief. They had hoped that they would be able to distract him and cool the akuma down if they could tell them that end of term exams are not the end all, be all; life continues whether you get an A or an F. And it all hinged on whether or not the akuma believed in the tarot readings.

            Chat continued. “Good. Now I want to show you something.” Chat flipped around the first card. “This is your past. You have always had a hard time passing classes right?” The Studier nodded. His eyes were still entranced with the cards. An outline of a butterfly appeared around his eyes; Hawkmoth was trying to rein in his servant, but it wasn’t working.

            Chat turned over the second card. “This is your present. You have been working so hard for the end of term, when you got depressed, and you became-“

            “A monster?” finished the victim. Something had changed about The Studier all of a sudden. The picture of nine swords began to freak out the victim. He was once again trying to break free of the yoyo bonds, but Ladybug held on. Chat continued to try to get through to the akuma by calmly touching his shoulder, but his touch did the opposite. “The teachers never notice how hard I worked; they just think I’m just a ‘poor little boy’ who knows nothing. Well I know one thing for sure. You both are trying to trick me into giving up my power!” The Studier gained in size and looked down upon the superheroes.

            “No. We’re trying to help you!” Chat Noir defended trying to reach out to the boy. The Studier broke away from the yoyo and ran away. Ladybug and Chat scrambled to grab him again, but they couldn’t reach him in time. In the scuffle Ladybug’s earrings beeped a warning signal for two minutes.

            “Crap. We’re gonna have to wrap this up really soon. I really don’t have time for this.” Ladybug looked around the city stressfully, trying to think of a way to get to The Studier.

            “Shall we?” Chat offered his hand to Ladybug as he extended his pole. Ladybug looked at him, surprised, but took his hand quickly.

            “Ok, but just this once.” Chat grabbed Ladybug’s waist gently and he catapulted them down a few blocks, then a few more.

            “Just saying, once you get a taste, My Lady, you’ll be begging for more!”

            “Just shut up and go, cat.” The two landed on a building adjacent to, the now walking, Studier. Moving as one, but still somehow separate, Ladybug and Chat Noir landed in front of, but also behind The Studier, and once again trapped him in place.

            “I told you! I’m not giving up my power. With my power I don’t have to ever write a term paper ever again!” The Studier yelled. Chat held out his hands in surrender.     

            “I realize how wonderful it is to not have any responsibility, but you have to realize that teachers are not trying to hurt you on purpose. They are truly trying to help you succeed. And, yeah, you failed a few tests and papers along the way, but look at this third card.” Chat flipped around the third and final card; the fool. “This is you. In ten years, this one exam won’t matter. What will matter is how hard you tried.” For the first time, The Studier completely relaxed and listened to Chat’s words. “Don’t give up yet. You can still make it.” Ladybug’s hand slipped into the back pocket of The Studiers’ suit and pulled out a purple colored term paper. With one swift movement, she ripped the paper in two and freed the akuma of its dark powers.

            “Pound it!” Ladybug and Chat Noir cheered together.

            “I got it from her, My Lady, you can go.” Chat said in farewell, but Ladybug looked at him in confusion.

            “Why would I want to do that? We still have to take care of the victim.” Chat looked at Ladybug with an amused smile, waiting or her to realize the detail she forgot. A shrill series of beeps cut through the air and Ladybug’s eyes widened as she clasped a hand to her earlobe. “Ahh! I got to go! See you later smart Kitty!”

            Chat chuckled softly as Ladybug jumped out of view. “Crazy bug.”

000

            “Oh my gosh, Tikki! That was such a stressful adventure.” Marinette flopped down on her spinney chair, and spun around a few times.

            “I’m sorry I couldn’t hold out for longer, Marinette.” Tikki landed onto Marinette’s outstretched hand.

            “It’s fine Tikki, and totally understandable. I only have five minutes after I use my Lucky Charm, it’s the rules.” Marinette spied her diary box out of the corner of her eye. “But I think this adventure will be a great entry in my diary.” Marinette said cheerily.

000

            “You’re running out of room in your diary.” Tikki sat in her usual comfy pillow next to the stuffed cat in Marinette’s bed and watched her holder scribble notes about her second meeting with Chat Noir that day.

            “Yeah, I guess I am,” Marinette said, distracted. “Looks like I’m going to have to get another one. I didn’t really realize I had written so much.” Marinette stopped and finished her paragraph, then flipped through the pages of her journal.

            “Wow, it looks like a lot of your stories have immense details about someone’s partner?” Tikki cheekily grinned at Marinette. A very, very small tint of pink colored her cheeks as she scowled at her kawami.

            “Well he just happens to do a lot of dangerous, stupid things during battle that are important to the description of it.” Marinette turned back to the page she was working on and quickly finished retelling her encounter with the certain cat. “He is just my partner.”

            Tikki nodded, and cuddled in her bed after saying goodnight. _It’s always so tiring, sometimes, when the holders don’t realize who their partner really is. Although, if Marinette knew her dear Adrien was also her beloved cat, I don’t think she’d take it well,…at the moment at least_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While watching this episode I got the idea to write about the battle that Marinette was writing in her journal at the beginning of the episode. I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading!


	16. Animan

            They look so happy, Marinette’s family. It was amazing how their happiness could be captured in a single photo. Marinette comfortably stood in front of her parents and made a funny face at the camera. Her parents stood proudly behind her and held Marinette’s shoulders lovingly. Chat missed that kind of family atmosphere around his empty house. When he was younger Chat’s family was almost exactly like Marinette’s in the way that they loved each other. Adrien remembers how happy he and his father used to be until his mother left, and then everything turned cold. _Until I met you_ , Chat thought to himself, smiling at Marinette.

            “She’s very beautiful, isn’t she?” Chat jolted out of his mind palace and found Mr. Dupain-Cheng standing next to him. Chat fumbled around and tried to act like he had not been staring at the picture for the past ten minutes. “It’s alright, son. There’s no need to hide it. I’d just warn you that she has someone already on her mind.”

            “Oh no sir, I was just looking at the picture because I was marveling at your family. They look so happy.” Chat rubbed the back of his neck nervously and pointed to the photo. “I’ve met your daughter a few times, and it’s just nice to see that she has a wonderful family to take care of her.”

            “Thank you.” Tom thanked the superhero sincerely. “My wife and I have worked hard to keep her safe and happy. But we wouldn’t be safe without you, Chat Noir. You or Ladybug. Our protection can only go so far.” Mr. Dupain-Cheng looked at the photo, then back to Chat. “I know you get this a lot, but I want to thank you for protecting Paris from whatever magic those akumas are.”

            Now it was Chat’s turn to sincerely thank Mr. Dupain-Cheng. “Thank you, sir.  I’m glad our work is met with gratitude.” A silence spread between the two. It was a comfortable silence, surprisingly. A silence that felt like it was between a loving father and son.

            Behind the men was the living room to Tom and Sabine’s home where Kim, Ladybug, and Sabine were conversing quietly about things like the new akuma to the faire that would be coming in a few weeks’ time. The superhero and the father look happily on at the scene before them. Both had caring looks in their eyes.

            “How about your family?” Tom turned to Chat again. Chat wasn’t expecting the conversation to go that way, and he jumped around nervously before answering the question honestly.

            “Well my family used to be loving…but that was before it was just my father and I.” Tom noticed the formality of how Chat talked about his dad, and his heart went out to the alley cat.

            “I’m so sorry. May I ask what happened?”

            “I lost, uh …. Lost my mother a few years ago.” Chat saw Mr. Dupain-Cheng’s automatic thinking about death, but Chat reassured him that it wasn’t like that. “Oh, no. My mom didn’t die. She just……….disappeared one day. It broke everyone’s hearts, especially my father’s…..The happiness, sadly, disappeared with her.” Chat got quiet, and a sad, far off look took the place of his usual sparkle in his eyes. Chat, surprised, look up at Mr. Dupain-Cheng when he put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

            “I promise it will bet better someday, son. But know that you are welcome at any hours into my home. It is the least I can do for a superhero. My family is yours.” Chat’s face lit up, and he tried to say thank you, but the words wouldn’t come out. Tom just nodded; he understood. “Although it’s not like you need my family all too much,” Tom said tenderly as the two turned away from the photo to join everyone in the living area. “It looks like you already have a family, or at least a place to call home,” Tom whispered. They sat down on some stools, and Mr. Dupain-Cheng nodded to Ladybug. Chat shyly smiled down at his lap, letting a faint blush creep out from under his black mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I hope you guys like the new chapter! I really wanted to make Adrien feel welcome at Marinette's home. Thank you for reading!


	17. Antibug

_The one time I leave him alone_. Marinette looked down in horror at Chat Noir and Antibug. In the few moments that she left him, while she was in the hotel, he had been tied to his pole and was being bounced up and down by an amused Antibug.

            “Hurry up, Tikki!” Marinette whispered urgently to her kawami on her shoulder.

            “I’m eating as fast as I can.” Tikki took another large bite out of the cookie in her hands, but it still wasn’t fast enough for Marinette. She needed to help Chat right away.

            Below, the akumatized Chloe was taunting Chat with the prospects of leaving Ladybug. “Doesn’t she tie you down?” Anitbug asked, devilishly.

            “And aren’t you tired of copying Ladybug?” Chat retorted. Antibug stilled as she listened to Hawkmoth, and Marinette knew she should use that time to pull the wool over Chloe’s eyes, but she found she couldn’t move. Her eyes were glued to Chat’s body as it slowly inched towards the end of the pole.

            Chloe once again started to move, and she bounced up and down on the tiny pole that Chat was tied to. Chat’s body came closer to the edge. _That poor kitty must be sick by now_ , Marinette thought.

            “I know you can hear me, Lady Brat!” Antibug yelled. “You’re going to have to choose. If you want to keep Chat Noir alive, you’ll have to give me your miraculous. And if you refuse?” A devilish grin creased Chloe’s face. “Down comes kitty, cradle and all!” Antibug laughed maniacally. “I’ll give a count to ten ….1….2…3…..”

            “Could you make that twenty!?” Marinette could hear Chat shriek.

            “I need more time. Go save Chat Noir, Marinette.” Tikki whispered to her holder. Marinette gulped, and shakily looked away from her partner.

            “But I can’t transform!”

            “You’re Ladybug,” Tikki said, matter of factly. “With or without the costume.”

            “I don’t kno-“Tikki cut off Marinette.

            “I’m giving you advice, Marinette. Don’t make the same mistake twice.” Marinette’s face grew determined, and her spark returned to her eyes.

            “I got an idea.” Marinette took out her phone and brought up a news feed of her up, and put it on loop. She placed her phone carefully on the edge of the balcony that she was on, then climbed down the roof to hide behind the couch.

            Her voice from the phone caught Antibug’s attention, and Chloe went to investigate, leaving Chat alone for a few minutes.

            Marinette darted out of her hiding spot, and ran to Chat’s pole. With some effort (she was in her civilian form after all), she pulled Chat closer to safety.

            “Ladybug!” Chat cried cheerfully. Marinette grimaced. She leaned through the railings of the balcony and started unraveling the bonds that held Chat’s legs, then she moved to his hands.

            “Nope, not Ladybug. But we still need to get you out of this position. We can’t leave you out there to dry,” Marinette whispered. Chat carefully slid himself off of the pole and onto the concrete of the balcony, but his head snapped towards the feminine voice.

            “Marinette? What are you doing here?” Instead of looking surprised, Chat’s face was riddled with anger and protectiveness as he tried to get her to a safer place. _A place where she can properly transform. I may know her identity, but she doesn’t know that. She is so stupid thinking that she can help me in her civilian form_ , Chat thought to himself.

            “I came to visit the hotel and I saw you dangling from a very high pole. And since I noticed Ladybug wasn’t around, along with anybody else to help you, I thought I might come to your rescue.” Chat smiled in gratitude, and she returned it.

            “I thank you, my princess in shining armor, but you really do need to hide. Chloe will be back any minute.”

            “Ok, I’ll hide, but you need to hide as well.”

            Chat looked at her, bewildered. “Why?”

            “Because then she will still think that you are tied to the pole, and it will give you the element of surprise.” Marinette said, as if it was common sense. Chat nodded in understanding.

            Both of the superheroes, one in a mask and one as a civilian, hid in their respective hiding spots and waited for Chloe to return. In a matter of moments, Antibug stormed back towards them, or rather to Chat’s pole. She was ready to dump him off the roof, but Chat instead pounced on her from behind.

            Marinette nodded with satisfaction, and she turned to Tikki. “You all energized?”

            “Yep. I’m ready for anything!” Tikki said cheerily.

            “Alright. Tikki, SPOTS ON!”A wave of red light spread across Marinette’s body, and she lovingly spread her hands out, accepting the latex-like suit to cover and protect her.

            “I think it’s time to show that copycat what being a real hero is all about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers! While I was watching this episode over again, I was wondering how Chat reacted if he saw Marinette was helping him, so I wrote about it. I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading!


	18. The Puppeteer

            “I am so bored!” cried Manon.

            Marinette was babysitting once again and the two sat in Marinette’s room. Manon had collapsed on the floor. She had been playing with her dolls from home, but had since stopped. While Manon had been preoccupied, Marinette was folding her laundry and putting it carefully back in the drawers of her bureau. Marinette paused her folding and looked curiously at Manon.

            “Why is that, Manon?”

            Manon flopped around on the floor, and then turned her head so she was sort of looking at Marinette. “None of my dolls are like Ladybug. I just want to pretend that I’m saving Paris, but I can’t.” Manon started wailing and pouting. Marinette looked at her hidden kawami with a panicked look. Tikki lifted her hands, quietly saying that she had no clue how to stop Manon from crying.

            Marinette tried putting a hand on the shaking Manon, but Manon only flailed around more. Marinette then looked hopelessly around her room, looking for anything that would save her from the most certain disaster. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette spied a discarded red and black polka-dotted sock. Her eyes sparkled as an idea flew into her brain.

            “Manon, I have a great idea. How about we make our own Ladybug doll?” Marinette held up the sock, and folded it into the shape of a torso. “Then we can try to save Paris together!” Manon stopped her tantrum and looked curiously up at the sock.

            “How is that supposed to look like Ladybug? It just looks like a sock to me.” Manon pouted as she sat crisscross, apple sauce on the ground. Yet she kept her curious eyes on Marinette as she had turned, inspired, to her stack of scraps and pulled out a skin tone fabric, and a dark blueish-black material. Marinette scurried across her room to gather the other sock and her sewing kit.

            She sat in front of Manon and cut up her socks, and other the other fabrics, into pattern pieces. Then she carefully took out several pins and pinned some of the pattern pieces together. Manon stayed quiet, but her pouty face turned to awe as Marinette magically turned her cut up sock inside out and put stuffing into it. The sock had started turning into the polka-dotted clad superhero.

            Next, Marinette sewed the skin toned fabric together, then the blueish-black fabric was sewn together to resemble pigtails. The hair was then attached to the head, and the head was sewn onto the body. For the finishing touch, Marinette sewed a mask onto the blank faced doll. Marinette showed Manon. “How do you like it?” she asked.

            Manon squinted at the doll, and a smile spread across her face. “It looks just like Ladybug! But why doesn’t she have a face?” Marinette looked down at her doll, surprised. She had honestly forgotten to sew a face onto the hero.

            Marinette pulled out some black and red thread along with a large needle, and offered it to Manon. “How about you help me stitch her face on?” Manon looked excitedly up at Marinette, silently asking her permission. Marinette giggled and nodded. Manon eagerly grabbed the utensils and gingerly pulled the doll into her lap.

            For the next hour, Marinette patiently showed the basics of sewing to Manon and helped her sew cute, round eyes for Ladybug, along with a cheery red smile. By the time they were done, Manon’s mom had arrived to take Manon home.

            Without complaint, Manon climbed into her mother’s arms and waved goodbye to Marinette.      

            “See you, Manon. Next time you come maybe we can work on some other dolls.” Marinette smiled to herself as Manon smiled brighter.

            “Can we make Lady Wi-Fi next?” Marinette led Manon and her mother to the door of her family’s apartment and stopped to think.

            “Maybe, but first I think we need to make Chat Noir doll first.”

            “That’s a great idea, Marinette. We can’t have one superhero without the other,” Manon’s mother, Nadja, added in. The two waved goodbye one last time and closed the door behind them.

000

            Several weeks had passed by since the Puppeteer’s appearance and Marinette and Manon were once again playing with the dolls that they had made together.

            Just like the day that the two had first made the dolls, Manon was playing on the floor with the dolls while Marinette folded her laundry. It was a nice and calm evening where it was impossible for any akuma to attack. Manon’s mother had gone out for the evening, so Marinette was in charge of Manon till around ten. It was nothing for Marinette to take care of Manon now that she could no longer be taken down by the puppy eyes. Therefore it was a very nice and comfortable evening for Marinette. Marinette was so content that she didn’t even notice a certain black cat land on the roof outside her window.

            Chat Noir politely knocked on the frame of Marinette’s window and meowed slightly. Marinette jumped into a fighting stance and grabbed a stack of rather sharp knitting needles, ready to fight any person or thing that came close to her or Manon. Chat’s eyes widened to an impossible size and his hands flew up at an incredible speed to show surrender.

            “Marinette! Calm down! It’s just me! Who else would be coming through your window at this time of night? Yeah, only me, so put your weapon down.” Chat screeched, hoping that Marinette would not start stabbing him with the pointy sticks in her hands.

            Marinette just shrugged. “You can never be too careful.” She still did not lower her makeshift weapon, but her body visibly relaxed at the sight of Chat’s face.

Manon ignored the reactions of the two as she dropped the doll that she was holding and ran up to Chat Noir to hug his legs as he carefully crept through the window.

            “Oh my gosh! It’s Chat NOIR!” Manon screamed as she held tight to his legs. _Thank god my parents aren’t home_ , Marinette thought as she finally put down some of the knitting needles. Chat awkwardly kept still as Manon cuddled his legs, but he soon returned the hug, and picked her up.

            “Well hello, young one. You must be Manon. As you probably already know, I’m Chat Noir.” He said in a charismatic way, with no flirting or puns between the lines. Manon nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

            “Oh course I know who you are. See here’s the doll Marinette and I made of you.” Manon bossily pushed herself out of Chat’s arms and grabbed the doll from the ground. “Here you can play as yourself.” Manon sat down with her legs crossed over each other and she patted to the floor beside her. With a child-like, but also father-like smile, Chat eagerly sat down beside Manon and picked up his doll.

            Marinette shook her head in disbelief. “Chat, what are you doing here?” She asked, exasperated.

            Chat looked at her as if the answer was common knowledge. He gestured to the doll in his hand. “I’m here to play dolls.” Just like Manon did a few seconds ago, Chat patted the carpet beside him. “Do you want to join, Princess?” Marinette was shocked by Chat’s actions, but sat down beside him, nonetheless.

            “Wow! Are you best friends with Chat Noir, Mari?” Manon watched in awe at the friendly interaction between Marinette and Chat. She had only met the superheroes of Paris a few times in her short life, and she couldn’t believe that someone knew them personally.

            “The stray cat has visited enough times that I guess I can consider him a friend.” Marinette gave him a sly look out of the corner of her eye. She looked at the array of dolls in front of her. “So, Manon, which character would you like me to play?” Manon scanned the dolls with her stare. There were dolls of Lady Wi-Fi, Rogercop, The Evillustrator, Kung Food, The Mime, The Bubbler, Ladybug, Stormy Weather, and The Pharaoh. After a few more seconds of pondering, Manon grabbed the Ladybug doll and held it out to Marinette.

            “You can play as Ladybug. You’re the best at playing her anyway. I’ll be Lady Wi-Fi and The Bubbler.” Manon declared, grabbing her dolls.

            “Hey, that’s not fair. You get to play as two characters,” Chat complained playfully.

            “Well, it will make the battle more interesting if there are two villains.” Manon crouched down and held the dolls in front of her. “You’ll never get away from us, Ladybug and Chat Noir!” The villains cried. “All of the world will finally be without adults, and we will finally know your identities!”

`           “Oh no, you don’t!” Marinette cried back. “Chat! We’ve got to protect Paris! What will we do? Do you have a plan?” Marinette positioned her doll in front of Chat’s.

            “Well, My lady, I think we’re in a catastrophic event here. I think our best course of action is to find where their akumas are hiding.” Chat giggled at his own pitiful pun, and Marinette rolled her eyes. Chat positioned his doll in a heroic pose and pointed his little hand towards the villains. “That-a-way!” Marinette giggled again.

            The dolls entered into a fierce combat battle with death defying attacks and stunts, close calls with identities, and way too many puns.

            “Chat wouldn’t say that!” Manon would declare every once in a while when the real Chat would say something that he would actually say, or when he was secretly flirting with the Ladybug doll, or Marinette. Chat would kindly apologize and instead say a heroic phrase to get the battle going again.

            Another thing that would happen quite often during the doll battle was that Marinette would say something that only the true Ladybug would say, and Chat would laugh to himself. _With lines like that, I wonder what took me so long to realize Marinette is Ladybug_.

            The battle finally ended, and the exhausted toddler and the two teens collapsed on the floor and lazily stared up at the ceiling.

            “It would be so cool if the real Ladybug was playing with us,” Manon whispered right before she fell asleep.

            _If only she knew_ , Marinette and Adrien thought in unison. _If only she knew._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Readers! Guess who fell into the MariChat chapter again! I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you for reading!


	19. Reflekta

            “Good evening Milady, you’re a little late.” Chat Noir smiled up from the roof of their usual meeting spot. Ladybug swung onto the roof with a shopping bag hanging from her wrist. She dropped down next to him and returned his smile. She didn’t really want to admit it, but she did really miss the look of her companion’s face. It was just way too weird to see a pretty pink princess with Chat Noir’s voice, today.

            “Yeah, sorry about that. I was going to arrive on time, but I saw something in a store’s window that I thought you might like.” Ladybug pulled a carefully wrapped box from the bag and handed it to an eager kitty. Chat was practically bouncing like a pogo stick.

            “Calm down Kitty, you’re going to drop it,” Ladybug said affectionately. She pulled her knees to her chest and watched happily as Chat quickly pulled off the green wrapping paper. Surprisingly enough he didn’t totally rip the paper into shreds with his claws and excitement.

            Once the wrapping paper was off, Chat pulled off the lid of the box and looked into the tissue filled interior. By moving some of the tissues aside, a pair of bright pink stilettos was able to stare up at him. Chat glared at Ladybug. She just laughed.

            “I knew you would love them! They fit your style _purr_ -fectly, don’t you think??” Ladybug was laughing so hard her whole body shook and her eyes had started to leak. Chat just continued to glare. “At first I thought kitten heels would be great for you, but then I thought they were not nearly s _exy_ enough for you.” Ladybug was now gone as the giggles consumed her.

            Chat Noir stopped glaring at her as he noticed the puns that were coming out of her mouth (poor ones at that). _She has finally lost it_. All of a sudden a sneaky grin crossed his features. _She is so distracted she won’t see what I’m doing before it’s too late!_ Making sure he retracted his claws, Chat advanced on the giggling bug.

            With just a quick flexing of his fingers, Chat wiggled his fingers across Ladybug’s abdomen and sides, maker her laugh even more.

            “Chat, stop….” Ladybug couldn’t stop giggling now. She was pretty much incapacitated, but she was able to bring her fingers to Chat’s stomach and run them quickly over the tight fabric of his suit for revenge. Soon enough both of the superheroes were laughing and rolling around on the roof. Ladybug pushed herself on top of Chat and finally collapsed onto his chest. They both relented and stopped their tickling war as they unconsciously held onto each other’s warmth in the cold night air as they recovered their breath.

            All of a sudden Chat Noir and Ladybug noticed their awkward position and flung themselves away from each other. Blushes crept their way past the masks and they both mumbled apologies. An awkward silence spread between them.

            “Um, I guess I should be off… I have cooking and sleeping to do along with uh… baking, no! I mean cutting some shrubs” Ladybug dropped her yoyo, which she quickly picked up again. “Yeah, um, see you soon.”

            Chat Noir called to her before she made her way back home. “Hey Bugaboo. Thanks for the shoes; they do in fact fit my _purr_ -sonality better than those kitten heels. I’m glad you don’t see me as a kitty.” Chat picked up the box of shoes and placed them in the discarded shopping bag.

            Ladybug smiled at him. “Whatever you say pussy-cat.” With a little wave, Ladybug flew off.

000

            Another akuma attack had risen in the city of Paris, and Ladybug had been the first to arrive. It was a pretty easy villain. All she had to do was break his…

            “Well hello Milady! How are you on this fine summer’s eve? I’m feeling quite _purr_ -ty if you ask me,” Chat Noir called out as he landed right beside Ladybug. Ladybug rolled her eyes and turned around to face her partner.

            “And why is that?” she asked. Chat struck a pose and pointed to his feet. Ladybug burst out laughing as she saw her kitty wearing the bright pink stilettos with a bright and toothy grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I couldn't resist making a fluffy chapter where Chat and Ladybug have a tickle war. Hope you guys liked the chapter. Thank you for reading!


	20. Guitar Villain

            The Jagged Stone album was finally out, and it was amazing! Adrien had successfully convinced Natalie and Gorilla to stop at the nearest music store after his Chinese lessons, and he had run into the shop happily.

It was the first thing he saw in the store. No one could miss it because of the large display that the CDs were in. But what drew him to the CDs the most was the cover of the album. Adrien payed for the CD and got back into his limo, but he still was staring at the cover. In fact he was staring at it until he reached his room and inserted the CD into his stereo. That is when he noticed the fine print in the corner of the cover. In the corner was an elegantly scribed name. It was so small, Adrien couldn’t tell what it said, and so he decided to look inside the booklet that came with the CD, guessing the name of the artist who made the cover would be mentioned.

            Sure enough, in the letter from Jagged Stone to his fans, at the end of the booklet, he thanked the beautiful artist who made the best rock’n’roll art he had ever seen. The artist just happened to be Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Adrien was so shocked. He had seen only glimpses of Marinette’s art when he would glance into her notebook, but he didn’t realize she was that good.

            “Wow that’s some cool artwork,” Plagg murmured as he flew up to the picture. “It’s very fitting with that yelling music.”

            “For your information that ‘yelling music’ is called Rock and Roll. And that artwork, that is not cheese, was made by Marinette.” Adrien sighed. Plagg rolled his eyes dramatically and shoved the nearest cheese slice into his mouth.

            “Ughh! First it was Ladybug, now it’s Marinette. I have got to stop picking teenagers that get love sick so easily!” Plagg grumbled. Adrien shot him a look.

            Adrien sat looking at the cover once again, lost in his thoughts. All of a sudden he broke the silence to speak his thoughts aloud, much to Plagg’s displeasure.

            “I wonder if I could get Marinette to sign this. It would be so cool to get a signature from her before she becomes famous. I mean, with business and recognition like this _now_ , it would be no wonder if she got extremely famous with her art in the future.”

            “Maybe you should. I think she would enjoy that. Anyone would, especially since you would be asking for the autograph.” Plagg said honestly. He wouldn’t tell anyone, but he had a soft spot for both his own holder and for Tikki’s as well.

            “Really?” Adrien asked. Plagg shook his head at Adrien’s obliviousness.

            “Yes, I really think she would enjoy it.”

            Adrien then sat up with a purpose and put the album inside his backpack. “Then it’s settled. I’ll have her autograph it tomorrow.” Adrien then flopped happily onto his bed, proud of his great friend.

000

            “Hey, Marinette, I, uh, was wondering if you would sign this for me?” Adrien held out his copy of Jagged Stone’s album and offered a shy, but confident smile.

            Marinette giggled shyly and looked a little like she wanted to run away when she started to blush, but she tried to keep a level voice. “I, ummm, sure. I think I can get Jagged Stone to sign your copy.” She shakily took the case out of Adrien’s hands and was about to put it in her bag when Adrien realized his mistake.

            “OH! No…I actually wanted you to sign…it for me.” Marinette looked at Adrien, shocked. Her face then went through the emotions of fluster, boastfulness, to nervousness, and finally to embarrassment in a span of seconds.

            Marinette grabbed the pen out of Adrien’s hand and quickly signed the album and shoved it back into Adrien’s hands. Adrien smiled much wider when he saw the autograph and thanked Marinette once again. “It’s an amazing work of art, Mari! Thanks for signing it!” Adrien clutched the CD to his chest, being the love sick teen he is. He didn’t even notice Marinette freaking out behind him (In a good way).

            Adrien couldn’t stop smiling the whole day, even as he flopped down on his own mattress and pulled the heart shaped letter out of his phone pocket and compared the handwriting to the autograph. They were exact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers! I saw a post about Marinette's handwriting, and I couldn't resist writing a chapter about it. I hope you liked the new chapter. Thank you for reading!


	21. Pixilator

            “I have got to stop doing this to myself,” whispered Chat as he looked around at the blank, white space around him. “This is getting ridiculous.”

            “Damn right, it’s getting ridiculous. At this rate you’ll kill me! I mean us.” Plagg was clearly pouting while Chat was transformed and was mentally poking Adrien in his brain.

            It had already been a tiring day for Adrien, and he had had it up to here. During his class project he had been teamed up with Chloe, or rather Chloe teamed up with him, and he had to put up with her clinginess for hours. And after that, and akuma victim appeared and sent him into the nether world for the first time with Chloe. Just when he was able to get out, he went and defended Ladybug…again.

            Chat slumped against the ground and sighed. It was his first moment of silence he had had in a while, but he couldn’t relax as long as Ladybug was still in danger’s way.

            “Kid, chill! She’ll be fine,” Plagg assured Adrien. “It’s not like she can’t handle herself. She’s Ladybug!” Chat tensed.

            “So I guess I didn’t have to protect her then.” Chat curled his knees to his chest and broodingly rested his chin on them. Plagg let him brood in silence for a few minutes, but decided that Adrien was too close to depression as it is, so he decided to step in.

            “No. Of course not, Kid. She needs you, Adrien. Did you not hear her the last time you stepped into protect her? She appreciated it, but she was just scared for you.” Adrien just looked away.

            “I don’t know why I protect her, Plagg. It is the stupidest thing I do, yet I do it again and again.” Adrien closed his eyes and stared at Plagg in a pleading way in his brain. “Why do I jump in front of the bullet? Why? Why do I do it without thinking?”

            Plagg cuddled Adrien’s mind’s cheek and purred the tiniest bit. “Adrien? Do you know what I hear you saying every single day?” Adrien shook his head. “’I love Ladybug!’” Plagg imitated, “’I love you Marinette!’, and ‘I love Paris’. That is your reason right there, Kid.”

            Adrien opened his eyes as everything dawned on him. “I love Ladybug.” Plagg rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t understand… I mean you do, but…I truly love Ladybug. It’s not just puppy love, or a crush that would fade with time! I actually do love Ladybug, both sides of her. I can’t imagine my life without her anymore. I can’t imagine leaving Paris in harm’s way, either. That’s why I stand in front…to protect the ones….I _love_.” Adrien felt a pounding in his chest and wondered for a second what it could be, but once again it dawned on him. “I am so stupid.”

            “I would definitely agree with that,” Plagg snickered.

            Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien noticed an arm that was floating in mid-air. A polka-dotted arm. “Hey, isn’t that Ladybug’s arm?” Chat got up and walked closer to the floating arm. Every once in a while it would punch out, almost like it was having a spasm attack, but Adrien knew it was because it was still connected to the rest of Ladybug’s body. Suddenly a leg appeared below the arm.

            “Looks like she got hit,” Plagg whispered, then apologized when he saw Adrien wince. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that, I only mean-“

            “It’s fine, Plagg.” Chat was suddenly calm and he instinctively reached out for Ladybug’s hand. He grasped her hand in his, and he laced their fingers together. Chat squeezed her hand gently and whispered encouraging words, hoping she would hear them.

            As a response, Chat could hear his lady call for him. Along with her voice came a thought sent directly from her mind to his telling the exact plan on how to get out. Chat gave her hand once last squeeze, then let go.

            “Cataclyzmmmmmmm!” Chat cried and threw his hand to the ground, creating enormous cracks in the white tiled room. “I think it’s time to get out, what do you think, Plagg? Ready to take a shot at it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Readers! I'm back with more chapters. In this chapter, I felt that Adrien had always taken the hit,and I think he is always wondering why. Hope you liked the new chapter. Please leave a comment or kudos if you would like. TTFN!


	22. Princess Fragrance

            Unexpectedly, Chat Noir bounced back and dug his baton down into Ladybug. Once the baton hit Ladybug, she used the energy from it to jump backwards, out of harm’s way.

            “Snap out of it, Chat Noir! It’s me, Ladybug!!” Ladybug pleaded. Chat Noir laughed maliciously and sang out.

            “Give me your Miraculous!” _How could I believe that would have worked?_ Ladybug thought. _It didn’t work last time, or the time before. I guess I’m just not getting enough sleep to think rationally._ Ladybug shook her head and stepped out of the way of the charging kitty again.

            “Just letting you know, you have terrible combat skills when you’re under spells, Chat.” Chat was making mistake after mistake in combat and Ladybug stumbled as her companion did not reply to her conversation. It was just so normal for him to respond to her quips. That is how their battles went; they bantered. Although the drugged Chat Noir was very ditzy, he caught her stumble and used that moment of weakness to push her more off balance; he leapt for her head next. Ladybug luckily jumped out of the way, but she was starting to feel like her luck was running out.

            _Ok, I need to focus. Chat’s not Chat anymore. I shouldn’t expect him to…..do what he normally does, whatever that may be. He might as well be akumatized. That is what I need to think of him as at the moment._ Ladybug back flipped out of the way as Chat Noir extended his pole even farther, and tried even harder to hit her.

            A storm of pink, misty, perfume approached the bridge and it caught Ladybug’s eye.

            “Uh-oh. I better do something before this all blows up in my face.”  Ladybug murmured. Just then she thought about the chemistry lab she was doing earlier in the day. Flammable substances do not collaborate well with fire at all. Underneath the bridge was a boat full of fireworks passing by, and Ladybug’s face lit up. She knew exactly what to do.

            But before she could do anything, she had to deal with that baton coming straight towards her face. She ducked and simultaneously unclipped her yoyo from her belt and swung it around a light pole. Ladybug jumped from side to side calling out “You missed me!”, or “Whoops, try again!” She was successfully getting the kitten agitated. It was all going according to plan. She giggled at Chat’s irritated face, and let herself get caught as he shoved his baton into her stomach and extended it.

            Ladybug’s stomach muscles screamed at the impact, but luckily her suit caught the brunt of Chat’s force. She held on until she was right above the boat. The she used all of her weight to flip the extended baton up and send Chat flying, only to land right next to her.

            “Nice of you to drop in.” Ladybug smirked, and made sure that she stood directly in front of the controls to the fireworks display.

            Chat Noir stood up and grinned deviously. Ladybug felt like she should have been a bit more scared of him, but that was only if she didn’t feel like she had the upper hand in the battle. She was feeling pretty confident at the moment.

            “Give me your miraculous!” Chat sang once again.

            Ladybug smiled and curled her finger to him, then back to herself. “Come and get it.” Chat cried out for his cataclysm, but Ladybug’s smile only grew wider. She let Chat run closer and closer until she spun on her heel and effectively tripped him and sent him flying towards the control box.

            Fireworks burst out of the boxes beside them, and Ladybug felt the instinct to get off the boat now. She grabbed Chat’s tail and started pulling him off the boat. _Get off the boat, get off the boat, get off the boat_. Knowing that she could not carry him all the way to safety, because she was not strong enough, Ladybug threw him into La Seine. She swung her yoyo towards a building across the river and caught it on a chimney. She sped it out of there, promising herself to come back for Chat, but right now she needed to capture the akuma.

000

            “Sorry, again, about the bruises. I may have had a little too much fun.” Ladybug and Chat sat on the bridge where they had fought earlier, and were looking at the star filled Seine.

            “It’s understandable, My Lady… I guess. How hard did you hit me for this one though?” Chat lowered his collar a little to show Ladybug a nice yellow and green bruise. Ladybug grimaced.

            “Yeah, that one…Let’s just say I was just trying to stop you from impaling me with your baton…Sorry.” Chat shrugged. He licked his hand and rubbed it on his neck. “Ahh! What are you doing?!” Ladybug pulled Chat’s hand away from his neck. “That’s just gross. What were you thinking?”

            Chat shrugged again. “I was just cleaning it.” He looked like he was going to do it again, so Ladybug gave him a look. She called for her Lucky Charm, and down flew a Ladybug themed ice pack.

            “There…This should actually help.” Ladybug gingerly folded Chat’s collar back and applied the cold ice pack. Chat jumped at the sudden change in temperature, but calmed as Ladybug fondled with the tips of his hair. They were silent for a while; both enjoying each other’s company.

            “I didn’t know you could dictate what your Lucky Charm was,” Chat mentioned. Ladybug smiled and adjusted the ice pack so she could tell the temperature of his skin, then she slid it back on.

            “I honestly didn’t know what it would give me this time. I was just looking for something to help that bruise, and the Miraculous god just happened to give me something useful.” They both laughed.

            “Thanks for taking care of me, Ladybug. I really appreciate it.” Chat turned his head so he could lean his cheek against Ladybug’s hand.

            “No problem. I needed to repay you anyway… for beating you up so much.” Ladybug took off the ice pack again and held her hand against his collar bone to warm up the skin, although she didn’t pull her hand away from his cheek.

            “Did I hurt you, My Lady?” Chat asked suddenly, concerned. His voice was a little more husky then normal, and he coughed in an effort to clear it. Ladybug retracted her hand and quickly shook her head, but her hands betrayed her as they wrapped around her stomach.

            “Ladybug, you should have told me sooner. How bad is it? What did I do?” Ladybug shook her head, not wanting to answer. Chat somewhat ignored her and grabbed the discarded ice pack and placed it on her stomach. Ladybug tried to squirm away, but she grudgingly sat still as Chat lay the ice pack on her sore muscles. She had to admit, it felt good. “So, what did I do?”

            “Well your baton hit me square in the stomach, but really it was my fault because I was trying to get to the boat, but-“

            “I get it. Sorry I did that.”

            “It wasn’t you-“

            “Yes it was.”

            “No it wasn’t”

            “Yes it was me-“

            “Yes it was you.”

            “No it wasn’t!” Chat cried, and then narrowed his eyes as his words caught up to his mind. “You little bastard.” Ladybug smiled cheekily. “Alright, we’re even now.” The two fell into their comfortable silence once again. Ladybug lay back on the bridge. Chat followed her down, making sure the ice pack stayed in the correct spot. All in all, it was a nice and calm evening for the two superheroes. No stinky akumas could ruin their moods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! This chapter has a lot more fluff, and I feel like there are some feelings blooming. Until I write again. TTFN!


	23. Jackady

            “I can’t believe I just yelled at my dad, Plagg. I don’t know what got into me. I need to be more careful, or I’m going to reveal myself. He’s already suspicious of me.” Chat Noir scaled the walls of his home and kept a ready eye on the walking zombies that were Jackady’s minions

            Chat Noir rushed to the other side of the building, momentarily forgetting about his dad because he needed to focus on getting to his room before Ladybug did. He pushed another button on the remote in his hand to open the window to his bathroom, and he flipped in. Immediately Chat’s ears picked up on the voices on the other side to the door of his bathroom Ladybug and Natalie had arrived before him, but not all hope was lost.

            There was a knock on the door. Chat was too busy to answer as he started freaking out. He bounced up and down while looking around his bathroom looking for somewhere to hide in case the person knocking came in. “Adrien?” _Frickety-frick frack! Ladybug can’t come in! She’ll wonder where Adrien is or….._ Chat’s eyes bugged out. _Or she’ll figure out my identity! That would be bad_. Thankfully the knocking stopped, and Chat was able to breath. From his bedroom he could hear Ladybug urging for Natalie to take Nino while she got Adrien.

            An idea popped into Chat’s brain. He turned on his shower head and released his transformation. Adrien let the bathroom steam up with the extremely hot water. He was tempted to take off his shirt to complete his plan, but he didn’t have enough time.

            “Adrien?” Ladybug called again as she opened the door to his bathroom and cautiously stepped in. Adrien popped his head around the wall to his shower and stared at Ladybug with a questioning look.

            “What’s up?” Adrien had to keep himself from bursting out laughing as Ladybug froze, and he could see her mind coming to the conclusion that he was in the shower…naked. He wasn’t, but Adrien realized it couldn’t hurt to tease her a little. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

            Ladybug kept most of her body frozen, but her hands flew up to her face and started to make a frame around her face. Her hands were a flurry of activity. Ladybug’s mouth opened in a silent scream as her body kept freaking out. Inside Adrien’s brain, he was just giggling. _Ladybug, your Marinette is showing_.

            Her hands finally stopped moving, and she instantly dropped her hands, and tried to look calm and collected, but her blush ruined the impression. “Too dangerous! Go, we must!”

            Adrien loved her stuttering, so he decided to torture a little bit longer. “Can I put on some clothes first?” _I’m too good for my own good_. Adrien watched with amusement as Ladybug’s hands few around her face, again, as she tried to regain her composure.

            “I guess you can, if you must.” Ladybug tilted her had to the side in a dreamy fashion, then she snapped out of it again. “Yes, NO! Sure..I’llwaitouthere!” Ladybug slammed the door shut. Adrien sighed a breath of relief…., then smiled.

            “That was fun. I need to try that more often.” Adrien snickered, and Plagg joined in.

            “Alright, sexy boy, go out there and get some.” Plagg threw him a towel so he could ‘look’ like he had showered, then hid in his shirt.

            Adrien came out of the bathroom and looked around for Ladybug. She was standing by his computer, smiling at his screen saver.

            “That’s a picture of my mom when she was seventeen.” Ladybug turned around and smiled at him.

            “She has your smile,” Ladybug and Adrien whispered at the same time. Their faces erupted into blushes. Adrien was about to recover and tell Ladybug more about his mom, but the door of his bedroom was burst open by the walking zombies of Jackady. Ladybug threw her hands on Adrien’s chest and pushed him towards the bathroom She pushed him down onto the floor before turning around and closing the bathroom door between them, saying “Stay here. I’ll take care of this.”

            _Oh you can take care of this all you like, My Lady_ , Adrien, or rather Chat, thought.

            “You need to get your mind out of the gutter kid. But I have to admit, that was pretty exciting to watch.”

            Adrien blushed, then held his fist out. “Plagg, transform me!”


	24. Volpina

            “I thought you loved him!”

            “Not as much as I want your Miraculouses!” Volpina yelled back. She was holding Adrien by the hand and was dangling him from the top of the Eiffel Tower. “No hard feelings, right?” She asked the wimpy Adrien.

            “You’re bluffing.” Chat was getting real tired of this, fast. He realized now how Ladybug didn’t trust her, but using his other self was just plain pathetic. “It’s just an illusion!”

            “You want to bet?” Volpina smiled, and lifted her pinky off of Adrien’s hand. Ladybug was freaking out beside Chat and was watching in horror as Volpina’s fingers came off one by one. Volpina was down to one finger when Ladybug shouted.

            “NOOOOOO!” She fell down in a heap against the rungs of the tower and clung desperately to them. Chat raced over to Ladybug and slung an arm around her waist. She reached towards her earrings, prepared to take them off. _Why is she doing this? I can’t mean that much to her. We’ve only met a couple times while I was in civilian form. I’m just another civilian to her_.

            “Don’t do it Ladybug!” Chat whispered urgently in her ear. “It’s not worth it.”

            “Yes it is. He means everything to me…….just like you.” Ladybug sadly turned to Chat and pulled the lock away from her ear and was ready to pull out the stud of her earring. “This is not how I wanted you to find out.” Her words pounded in Chat’s ears, then they struck home. Chat turned angrily up at Volpina, away from Ladybug, and aimed for Adrien. Marinette’s blood curdling scream filled his ears as the weapon headed straight towards Adrien’s chest. But instead of falling, Adrien disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke. Ladybug gasped quietly beside him, but she surprisingly shed her feelings quickly for the sake of the battle as she spotted Volpina flitting away, up the tower.

            The superheroes followed the akuma victim to the summit of the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug called for her Lucky Charm when the illusion of multiple Volpinas flooded their vision. Ladybug caught her charm and stared, confused, at the ice cream wrapping, then her face cleared. “I have an idea!”

            “What? With a chocolate ice cream bar?” Chat looked bewildered at the glowing package. Ladybug nodded.

            “Get ready.” That was all she had to whisper, and Chat immediately brought his claws out.

            Ladybug used the glowing ice cream bar to shine it in all of the Volpinas’ faces, but only one cried out in pain as the light hit her eyeballs. Chat Noir saw his chance and leapt for it. He dug his claw into one of the spires nearest the true Volpina, and watched as the spire rusted and collapsed around her.

            “Trapped, like a fox,” Ladybug sneered and grabbed Lila’s necklace so she could smash it to pieces. Out of the ruins flew the darkened akuma. Ladybug opened her yoyo and threw the glowing orb at the butterfly. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.” Ladybug waved goodbye, then grabbed her lucky charm and threw it into the sky. “Miraculous Ladybug!” Everything was finally back to normal.

            “Lila, I’m sorry I overreacted. I never should have spoken to you like that. I’m so sorry.” Ladybug crouched down beside Lila and put her hand on her shoulder, but Lila threw it off.

            “Forget it Ladybug, you were right. We’ll never be friends.” Lila grabbed her necklace and calmly walked away with a smirk on her face.

            “Ouch,” Chat murmured.

            “No, she sort of had a right to, Chat. You weren’t there, but I exploded earlier when she lied about knowing me personally. I just couldn’t stand how she used her lies to attract the attention of the sweetest guy I know.” Ladybug hugged herself. “It doesn’t matter now, anyway. What’s done’s, done.” Chat pulled her in for a quick hug, then let go. The two stared over the railing of the Eiffel Tower to look at the city they were constantly saving.

            Ladybug suddenly jumped back. “Oh, no! We still have a problem. We still don’t know if Adrien’s alright!”

            Warning sirens wailed inside Chat’s head as he scrambled to try and keep Ladybug at ease and off topic. “Uhh…everything’s been put back to normal right? So he must be safe at home?” _That seems like a solid explanation. No plot holes to fall into. She won’t feel the need to check on me, good._

“I should go and check to make sure!” Ladybug determinedly pulled out her yoyo and got ready to swing.

            “NO! Don’t worry about it, I’ll go. You’re about to change back.” Chat (proudly) pointed out. _That was close_.

            “So are you.” Ladybug also pointed out. Chat started cursing loudly in his brain as their Miraculouses beeped loudly.

            “No arguing, I’ll take care of it.” And with that, she was already halfway to the Agreste Manor.

            “AHHH! The stubbornness! It’s soo…….so irresistible.” Chat cried softly. “I’m in so much trouble.” Chat extended his baton and used it as a pogo stick to go the short way to his home.

000

            “Adrien? Are you there?” Chat popped through the bathroom window, just like he had for the last akuma attack, and he raced towards the bathroom door, only to turn around and race to his shower. “Adrien? May I come in?” Chat heard his door creep open, and he quickly turned on the shower head. Ladybug instantly slammed the door shut.

            “Ahhh…. This is Ladybug. Is everything okay?” Ladybug’s voice jumped octaves as she nervously talked to the Adrien inside.

            “Umm, yeah!” Chat replied. “I had to grab a shower after all this excitement.” _Way to go Agreste, now Ladybug thinks you’re always in the shower_. Chat smiled endearingly and set is ears and paws heavily against the bathroom door to listen to Marinette’s sweet voice.

            “Uhh, sure….. I’m sorry. I’ll be off, then,” Ladybug stuttered.

            “Thank you!” Chat called. He could feel through the door that Marinette had not moved and had coincidentally laid her hands at the same position where his were. Chat sighed and looked to where Ladybug could be staring at, at that very moment. He had a pained look in his eyes. Once he heard her footsteps dash away, he finally opened the door. He looked longingly at the open window and sighed once again.

            “Why can’t I say what I mean,” he whispered, releasing his transformation.

            “You mean you wish you could say you love her, and oh hey, I know you’re Marinette.” Plagg huffily zoomed over to his personal stash of cheese and started munching down on some. “I still don’t get why you haven’t told her yet.”

            “What? About me knowing about her true identity? Or Adrien is Chat, and the other way round?”

            “Both.” Plagg seemed unconcerned as Adrien started ranting.

            “I can’t! You told me at the beginning of all this miraculous stuff, that our identities must stay hidden at all costs. I can’t betray her like that.” Adrien had started pacing around his room, but Plagg stopped him.

            “You know very well that your identities do not need to stay hidden forever. I already told you, me and Ladybug’s kawami decided to start new holders off with that frame of mind, and then let them choose for themselves later. So therefore, that is no longer a good excuse, Kid.”

            Adrien sent his kawami a look. “It is still a good excuse because it is not what Marinette wishes. But I have to admit that ever since I found out, I have wanted to tell her, if only to be fair. But I wanted to make sure that she cares for, or at least trusts both sides of me.” Adrien threw himself on his couch. “I also wanted to learn more about both sides of Ladybug.”

            “But you instantly fell in love with Marinette because she was Ladybug,” Plagg sighed, but Adrien shook his head vehemently.

            “No, I didn’t. If anything, I was so shocked, the love disappeared and I started to second guess myself, asking if I truly did care about Ladybug. I didn’t want to automatically love Marinette just because she was Ladybug. I needed to make sure I loved her for who she was already. I wanted everything to be right. I also didn’t want to force Marinette to love me if I revealed myself, just because I was Adrien. I am oblivious, but I did know she had a crush on that side of me. Truthfully, I didn’t want to scare her away from me because I don’t love both sides of her; I only loved Ladybug at the time…… She would have been right….if I told her right off the bat.” Adrien turned his sad eyes, which were now filled with hope, towards Plagg’s glowing orbs. “But she would be wrong now. I love her, if not more than before….and not because she’s Ladybug…..but because she’s herself……I need to tell her soon.”

            Plagg cuddled up to Adrien’s ear and purred. “That you do, Adrien.”

            Adrien pulled out his phone, a pad of paper, a few colorful pens, and something hard to write on out of his desk. He smoothed out a new sheet of paper, but also pulled out a small slip from the hidden pocket of his phone case. On the newer sheet of paper Adrien wrote a very small story about a ladybug and a cat, and about how their lives intertwined through a series of battles, in the worst love square ever. It was short and sweet, and had the perfect bare bones of a great story.

             On the older sheet of paper, Adrien pulled out his pink, brown, and green markers and drew a single flower right next to the Ladybug that was already printed on the page. On the other corner of the paper Adrien drew the design that was always on his t-shirt. Next to that design, Adrien drew the final piece; a bright green paw print. “Love is strength,” Adrien whispered as he slipped the pieces of paper into the pocket of the phone case right next to the news articles, pictures, a valentine, and a thread of his favorite scarf. “I need to tell her….I need to tell her I _love_ her, all sides of _her_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last normal episode of season! Hope you liked it. The last chapter are the origins episodes. Until I write again, TTFN!


	25. Origins

            “Ok, I have special powers and…this magical yoyo, thingy?” Marinette unhooked the yoyo from the belt around her waist and bounced it up and down, experimenting. Tikki had told her earlier that she had the yoyo to get around Paris, so Marinette decided to throw it towards one of the spires on the Notre Dame. The yoyo suddenly burst out of her hands and soared through the air. Marinette managed to hold onto the string, and she felt it go taut as the yoyo gained purchase on the roof of the church. Marinette pulled slightly back and drew the string closer to her chest. The string then rebounded quickly and sent Marinette flailing through the air, screaming at the top of her lungs.

            The yoyo let go of its hold on the spire and sent Marinette farther into the city of Paris. Beneath Marinette the ground and the roofs of the Paris below was coming to meet her fast and she tried to throw her yoyo somewhere to stop her fall. It didn’t work very well. All of a sudden Marinette was thrown into someone. Granted, it was partly his fault since he had been the one standing on a stick in the middle of two buildings, but the two still ended up tied to one another, dangling in mid-air by a mere string.

            “Well, hey there. Nice of you to drop in.” Marinette looked up at the boy she was tied to and blushed in embarrassment.

            “Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.” Marinette squirmed against the bindings and looked shyly at the boy who was pressed flush against her. He had vibrant green eyes that were framed by a black mask that covered the top half of his face, not unlike Marinette’s mask. The other half of his face looked like baby skin in its softness. His simple lips were pulled to one side in a smirk as he tried to help Marinette with the bindings. Wild blond hair topped off his head and pointy, black cat ears poked out of the blond fluff. He was mildly attractive, but Marinette wasn’t too focused on that aspect. She was too busy being flustered and clumsy to care much.

            Marinette turned a little to the side and the movement seemed to trigger her yoyo and the string released its hold on her and the boy. The two fell in a heap on the ground. Marinette got up first and hurried to get her yoyo back into control, but she ended up falling on top of the boy again in her clumsiness.

            “I bet you’re the partner my kawami told me about. I’m…” The boy paused his rambling to think, not really minding that he had fallen to the ground again. Marinette moved off of his back and tried roll up the string to her yoyo. “I’m… Chat Noir, yeah. Chat Noir. Sounds cool doesn’t it.” The cat boy grinned. “And you?” He brushed off some dust as he got up, and he looked at Marinette with a questioning gaze.

            Marinette was multitasking. She was pulling the rest of the string from her yoyo out of some bushes as she tried to answer him. “I’m…,uh…uh…” The yoyo suddenly flew out of her hands and bounced off of Chat Noir’s head then bounced to the ground. “I’m madly clumsy.” The boy jumped in surprise at the clunk when the yoyo hit his head, and he rubbed his head in response.

            “No sweat, clumsy girl.” He replied lightly. He seemed way too happy for having just been hit on the head, Marinette decided as she watched him bounce up and down, much like her yoyo. She also decided that she would have to check him for a concussion later. “I’m learning the ropes too…” the newly proclaimed Chat Noir broke off his sentence as the street below them shook violently. In the distance several buildings fell in a cloud of dust.

            Beside Marinette, Chat Noir extended his baton and headed onto a roof. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!” Marinette called after him.

            “To save Paris, right?” He replied, like it was a matter of fact. Marinette sighed heavily. _I’m not so sure about this, but who else is going to stop him from killing himself?_ Marinette shook her head in despair.

            “Ok, just stay confident,” she whispered as she threw her yoyo and was flung into the air. _That’s going to be a lot harder than I thought_.

000

            Today had not been the greatest day ever, but at the same time it was the best day of her life. She had become a confident superhero and was known throughout Paris now as Ladybug. But while she was in the classroom, her life was still depressing, save for her new best friend. Chloe was making her life miserable, and even enlisted the new kid in her schemes. True, Marinette still had Alya, but it would be hard to deal with Chloe and her new minion…Adrien. At least Chat was a little more bearable.

            The world outside seemed to reflect Marinette’s mood at the moment. It was raining and quite foggy. Marinette had forgotten to bring her umbrella today, thinking it would stay dry and sunny. She turned out to be wrong. _It’s lucky that my house is near here. It looks like I’m going to have to make a run for it_. Marinette was grabbing her stuff when she saw the dreaded Adrien Agreste come out of the school building. Marinette looked away from him, pretending he wasn’t even there. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him hesitate when he passed her, but he continued his way past her. He popped open his black umbrella and took a step towards his limo, but he turned back to Marinette, surprising her a little.

            “I wasn’t trying to put gum on your seat. I was trying to take it off, you know.” Adrien stared at Marinette with intensity in his eyes, willing her to believe him. Marinette kept her face turned away from him. _I can’t believe him. He’s Chloe’s friend, how can he be better than she is. Ughh, how do I get myself into these messes?_ Adrien sighed. “I’ve never done this. Gone to school, had friends, any of it. My only friend that I’ve ever had was Chloe…and I don’t really want that.”

            For some reason, maybe in the way he had said it or maybe it was because he had magical powers, but Marinette’s eyes were drawn to his. They were vibrant and intense, and Marinette fell right into them. Adrien drew his eyes away from hers for a few seconds as he stared at the handle of his umbrella. What he was thinking about doing next would change everything he had ever known, and he realized it was worth it. He held out the umbrella to Marinette.

            The world had stopped. The rain had stopped. Marinette’s heart beat stopped, and the world suddenly shifted so that the umbrella and Adrien were at the center of it.

            Marinette’s body had stopped working a long time ago, and had drooped into a rather large puddle. Marinette shakily reached out a hand for the umbrella. The tips of her fingers brushed against his, and she felt a bolt of electricity surge and she jumped back. Without even thinking she reached out her hand again and quickly grabbed the handle of the umbrella, just brushing her hand with his. Adrien retracted his hand in a dream like state and watched Marinette’s eyes reflect the colorful rain in her bluebell eyes. A small ray of sunlight peeked out from behind the rainy clouds and highlighted the two. It was truly miraculous.

            Marinette pulled the black umbrella closer to her, to shield herself from the rain, but the umbrella snapped closed with her in it. _This is the most embarrassing moment in my life_ , Marinette though to herself as she tried to find her way out of the black umbrella. All of a sudden Marinette heard a snort of laughter that sounded so gentle and genuine. Marinette peeked out under the edge of the umbrella and saw Adrien laughing at her little problem, but it wasn’t like Chloe’s laugh where she was making fun of her. No this laugh was meant to be joined by her. Marinette blushed and giggled along with Adrien.

            They finally stopped and just stared at each other. Adrien had a healthy glow in his cheeks that seemed sort of new to his sallow face.  Marinette decided the glow looked good on him, very good.

            “You can keep the umbrella…I think it likes you,” Adrien laughed. Marinette blushed.

            “I uh…thanks.”

            “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow….friend.” Adrien paused for a second, trying to recall if he ever had heard her name. Since he hadn’t, he decided to go with friend.

            Marinette realized what Adrien’s pause was for and she quickly filled in the blanks. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng…by the way.”

            “A pleasure.” Adrien shook Marinette’s hand gently. “As you probably already know, I’m Adrien, Adrien Agreste.” Marinette smiled up at him.

            “Pleasure it is too…I mean you too pleasure. AH!” They both giggled again as Marinette tripped over her words.

            “I understand,” Adrien said happily. “See you tomorrow!” Adrien waved goodbye one last time with a smile as he headed towards his limo.

            “See tomorrow you. No, see you tomorrow!” Marinette blushed harder and whispered to the kawami in her purse. “Gosh, why am I stuttering and blushing?” Tikki shook her head and cuddled Marinette’s cheek.

            “I think I know why.” Tikki giggled as Marinette grew impossibly redder. Marinette looked through her eyelashes at Adrien, who had stopped for a moment to talk to a black blob, and Marinette dreamily started to plan out the future for the two of them. She was thinking so hard she didn’t consciously understand what the black blob was. It didn’t matter. Marinette had noticed something else. Something she hadn’t noticed about Adrien before…..and she liked it, a lot.

             Even years later as she stood beside her kitten, her prince, at the altar; she still saw the thing that she had noticed that one fateful day.

            “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you have Adrien Agreste to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

            “I do,” she replied.

            “And do you, Adrien Agreste take Marinette Dupain-Cheng to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Adrien smiled out of the corner of his eye at his lady.

            “I do.”            

            “Then I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Marinette and Adrien leaned towards each other. Adrien whispered silently to Marinette. “I am determined to remember our kiss this time.”

            “I hope you will kitty,…I hope you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the end of this story! I hope you liked it! I first published this story on Fanfiction.net every single day of July 2016. Now that I'm on this site I decided to transfer the story on here. Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it. Watch for a sequel to this story

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Readers! Here is my first chapter out of 24ish! Hope you liked it. I have already posted this story on another site, so luckily its already finished. I have even started on season 2!! Please leave a comment if you wish, it is always appreciated. Until I write again, TTFN!  
> -This story was previously posted on Fanfiction.net by me


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